Film

Their Finest

A 2017 film about a female screenwriter navigating a male-dominated British film industry during the Blitz, dramatising a true wartime rescue story. It's a bright, intelligent romance wrapped around questions of artistic truth and what stories we choose to tell. For anyone who loves character-driven period drama with wit and genuine warmth.

TMDb rating3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like wartime stories where the warmth comes from sharp banter and a workplace full of stubborn egos, and you enjoy seeing a film get made against the odds.

Skip it if you want the war felt as danger rather than backdrop, since its bombing and grief stay at a polite distance behind the jokes and the romance.

What it asks of you: Around two hours of mostly conversation, with big set pieces rationed, so it rewards a listener's patience.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Imitation Game2014

Another WWII story about an underestimated protagonist doing brilliant work while fighting bureaucracy and prejudice. Cumberbatch's Turing has the same isolated intensity that makes Cole's struggle resonate.

But Tonally heavier and more bleak. If you're after the lighter touch and romantic levity of Their Finest, this will feel considerably darker.

The Imitation Game poster

Atonement2007

A film obsessed with storytelling, truth, and how narratives reshape reality. Both explore the gap between what happened and what we tell ourselves happened, with period-perfect craft.

But Much more austere and punishing. Their Finest offers warmth; Atonement offers only exquisite, beautiful regret.

Atonement poster

The Crown2016

British institutional drama about powerful people managing narratives and image. Same era sensibility, same interest in how the powerful shape public perception, but with the scope of television.

But A significant time investment. Each season is ten hours, and the tone is far more ceremonial and less playful than Their Finest.

The Crown poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Their Finest

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

La Vie en Rose2007

Both are biopics about women reclaiming their story in male-dominated industries, but told through the lens of someone else's film or show about them. Both ask: who gets to decide what's true?

A film about a woman reshaping her own narrative and legacy, and about the gap between the person and the myth. Like Their Finest, it's fascinated by artifice, performance, and how we construct identity.

But In French, and considerably more operatic. Marion Cotillard's Piaf is wounded and sometimes difficult in ways that Cole is never allowed to be. Expect less warmth, more tragedy.

La Vie en Rose poster
More like this (8)

Darkest Hour2017

Another 2017 wartime drama about Britain finding its voice during the Blitz. Gary Oldman's Churchill has the theatrical, slightly ridiculous charm that Their Finest balances so well.

But Heavy on ceremony and historical grandeur. Less interested in the everyday and the human-scale struggles that make Their Finest intimate.

Darkest Hour poster

The Kindness of Strangers2019

Bill Nighy excels in quieter, character-focused ensemble dramas. This one has the same interest in how people help each other through difficulty without melodrama.

But Slow and contemplative. If you're watching Their Finest for plot momentum, this will test your patience.

The Kindness of Strangers poster

Pride2014

British period ensemble comedy about underdogs finding solidarity. Same warmth, same interest in how marginalised people build community and fight prejudice with humour and dignity.

But Far lighter in tone—sometimes verges on sitcom energy. If you want the romantic and dramatic stakes of Their Finest, this is more straightforwardly uplifting.

Pride poster

Casablanca1943

The gold standard for wartime romance and moral compromise. Both films ask whether love and duty can coexist, and both find nuance in the answer.

But Black and white, 1940s pacing, and a very different sensibility. Their Finest is more intimate; Casablanca is mythic.

Casablanca poster

A Bigger Splash2015

Gemma Arterton in a film about desire, power, and people trying to understand each other. Shows her range in a very different register—excellent character work.

But Intense and uncomfortable. A Bigger Splash is interested in psychological pressure; Their Finest is interested in connection.

A Bigger Splash poster

Passport to Pimlico1949

A Ealing comedy from just after WWII, with the same spirit of British resilience, humour, and community problem-solving that Their Finest celebrates.

But Genuinely archaic sensibility and pacing. It's charming but also very much of its moment, and much lighter on plot.

Passport to Pimlico poster

Dunkirk2017

Both were made in the same year about the same moment in history, but one is intimate and character-driven while the other is abstract and formally adventurous. Together they show two radically different ways of telling the same war.

Another 2017 British wartime drama, but shot as a vast, structural puzzle that mirrors the chaos it depicts. If you loved the craft and intelligence of Their Finest, Nolan's formal inventiveness is a different masterclass.

But Deliberately confusing and disorienting. No character development, no romance, no dialogue-driven scenes. It's technique over humanity—the opposite of Their Finest's warmth.

Dunkirk poster

The Watchers2022

Their Finest is about how art keeps people alive during war. The Archers is that actual art—the thing people tuned in to hear. Watching the film then listening is like seeing the magic trick from both sides of the curtain.

A radio soap opera running continuously since 1950, often called 'an everyday story of country folk.' It's the actual narrative engine of wartime morale—what Their Finest is trying to dramatise. Hearing it is like stepping into the film's world.

But It's radio, not visual. Requires sustained attention, and the pacing is glacial by modern standards. Some find it impenetrably English and slow.

The Watchers poster

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Recommended by

Darkest Hour, Testament of Youth