There are no two ways about it, Luc Besson has written and/or directed some of the best films ever to make it to screen, including Léon, The Fifth Element, and Taken.
He has made his first entirely live-action English language film in twelve years with The Lady, and CNN now has the first footage from the film and an interesting interview with Besson, via BleedingCool.
The footage begins with three captions: A Country. A Power. A Destiny. And as we get this final caption, we see Aung San Suu Kyi (Michelle Yeoh) arise a flight of stairs with such grace before a crowd of thousands. If you’re a fan of Besson’s – and you should be – then you’ll know that we can expect nothing short of brilliance with this film, and these first scenes definitely cement that expectation.
The Lady looks at the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition political leader, who sacrifices her own happiness for her people. She married Dr. Michael Aris (played by David Thewlis) in 1972 and had two children with him. But in 1988, she returned to Burma to help her sick mother, and later became the leader of the pro-democracy movement against the dictatorship government, which ultimately led to a life under house arrest for a total of a decade and a half.
In 1997, Aris was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and despite appeals from powerful figures and countries, including the Pope and the US, the Burmese government would not grant him a visa to their country to visit his wife. Instead, they told her she could leave the country to visit him, but she feared that if she did that, she would never be allowed to re-enter Burma, and hopes of democracy for the country might die if she did.
As Besson says in the video, she is known to some as the Steel Orchid, possessing such determination. And he notes that it was difficult for Yeoh to capture that trait, having that kind of will to sacrifice yourself for the good of your country. The choice Suu Kyi was given was an absolutely tragic one, and Besson openly admits that he cried a few times whilst reading the script.
We can be sure that The Lady is going to be a truly emotional and powerful film, and having such a strong cast as Yeoh and Thewlis in the leads will make it all the more touching. This first footage definitely looks promising, and there should be no doubt that this will be one of Besson’s finest films to date. A release date is still yet to be confirmed, but I really hope it will be sooner rather than later, because I cannot wait to see this project’s realization. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Yeoh, Thewlis, and Besson will all be going to the Oscars with it when it does arrive.
