Iconic model Kate Moss has always excelled at controlling her public persona, drip-feeding just enough personal information to keep her public satisfied whilst maintaining a very full private life largely away from scrutiny. ¨Never complain, Never explain.¨ Her many followers will no doubt then lap up her latest project, Moss & Freud, a drama based on the true story of the nine months in 2002 when Moss sat for a portrait by legendary figurative artist Lucien Freud.

With Moss herself as one of the Executive Producers, we are assured of fact-checking and insider approval. Written and directed by Oscar-winning James Lucas, Moss & Freud stars Ellie Bamber (The Serpent, Willow, The Trial of Christine Keeler) and the renowned Sir Derek Jacobi. We meet Moss at the beginning of 2002 when the 28-year-old meets the 80-year-old Freud at London´s National Gallery, a meeting set up by Freud´s fashion designer daughter Bella Freud, a close friend of Moss´s. They discuss the art and the idea of him painting Moss. They have little common ground at this point, and Moss, at the peak of both a very busy career and an even busier social life, is unsure of whether she can commit to sitting for him three nights a week for months on end. She’s used to everyone wanting a slice of her and needs to manage that.

She takes a little time to think about it, hangs out at a fetish party in Berlin, reflects on her fourteen-year career to date, and on her return to London, says yes. It’ll be a different experience; she loves art, and the set routine for a few months will be a welcome change from her frenetic life.

They begin their collaboration. What follows is a very poetic journey as two stars collide and learn to navigate each other’s very different routines and ethics. The ¨Why can’t I have fun all of the time?¨ Moss needed to fall in line with Freud’s strict Teutonic schedules. Moss decides to pose naked to show her truest self. The film leads up to the emotional Big Reveal of Naked Portrait 2002.

Moss & Freud remind us that London in 2002 was on a roll. New York was reeling from the 9/11 terror attacks, so a lot of its party crowd had decamped to London. The film includes various images and film snippets with tracks from the time to remind us of that – there´s Liam Gallagher, Naomi Campbell, restaurant Quo Vadis, etc. etc. It´s almost twenty-five years ago now, a druggy, modern-bohemian party era of which Moss was Queen Bee.

Ellie Bamber is excellent as Moss. She looks like her, and has her voice, posture, body, her wildness, wonderment, and mannerisms down pat, helped, of course, by ample access to Moss herself during filming. Very occasionally, Bamber´s middle-class-ness peeps through, overriding Moss’s Croydon roots, but it’s a minor issue. That’s a hard role to pull off as everyone knows Moss’s image so well. Jacobi, too, shines as the complex, intense, brusque, vulnerable, aging Germanic lothario Freud. Will Tudor plays Moss’s partner Jefferson Hack, a slightly sexier, buffer version of the real man, but captures his charm. Jasmine Blackborow plays Bella Freud. She has Bella’s voice down, her look less so. There’s an interesting sub-plot about Bella’s relationship with her father. Moss uses the film to reveal a few personal details about herself, and takes the opportunity to seek revenge on a very uncomfortable 1993 Calvin Klein shoot she did with Mark Wahlberg, then rapper Marky Mark. We learn more about Freud’s past life than Moss´s – she obviously wants to retain her enigma – that’s fine, as his life is arguably more interesting, and less documented.

The development of Moss and Freud´s personal relationship is particularly well portrayed, both in his studio, when they share an intimate dinner, and also when they get high on opium in his back garden. The timeline of the plot, however, lets it down a little. Moss was actually already settled with partner Jefferson Hack and pregnant when she met Freud in early 2002 – Lila Moss was born in September 2002 – but the film announces their new relationship and pregnancy some way into the story. Also Moss´s legendary ´Beautiful and Damned´30th birthday is included in the film. This actually took place in 2004. The party scene is good, but it could have been any party.

The locations and sets are beautiful, particularly Freud´s sun-kissed studio and garden. Lovers of London, Moss, and Freud won’t be disappointed. Other viewers may find the plot and script a little sparse. Overall, though, it’s an entertaining, nostalgic, era-capturing trip that avoids the pitfalls of a self-produced biopic.  .    (In UK Cinemas 29th May)