Mr. Turner
BBBBB
(out of 5)
The life and work of J.M.W. Turner are visited in this impressionistic exercise in brilliance by Mike Leigh, here making yet another unforgettably perfect film. It also marks a return to the Victorian era following his masterful Topsy-Turvy, but where that film was much more concerned with a precise recreation of the era, Mr. Turner focuses its efforts less on historical detail and more on the emotional exploration of artist and man. That isn’t to say that the trappings aren’t up to the perfection of his standards, as the production design and costumes are more than effective, rendered across the cinematic canvas by Dick Pope’s rich cinematography whose images exist within the world of Turner’s own mind-blowing paintings, but the weight of the film’s power rests on the relationships explored between the gruff subject (played with mercurial, leonine charisma by Timothy Spall) and his closest loved ones: a father who supported his son’s artistic talents, a maidservant (Dorothy Atkinson, a truly heartbreaking performance) with whom he has a complicated intimacy, and a landlady (Marion Bailey, also superb) who provides him with years of companionship. Turner would be a hard subject given that his career was generally successful (his membership in the Royal Academy, his recognition, in one of the film’s most memorable scenes, by Queen Victoria as an artist of note), but Leigh finds all the right moments of conflict to explore, and then pads it out with details of his interactions with citizens and artists (the scientific experiments with Lesley Manville being a thorough delight) as his life progresses and he gradually declines in health. It’s a warm and wonderful movie that is moving but also fiercely smart, told with a great love of its human figures who are never sentimentalized.
Film4, Focus Features International, France 3 Cinema, Lipsync Productions, Thin Man Films, Untitled 13, Xofa Productions
United Kingdom/France/Germany, 2014
Directed by Mike Leigh
Screenplay by Mike Leigh
Cinematography by Dick Pope
Produced by Georgina Lowe
Music by Gary Yershon
Production Design by Suzie Davies
Costume Design by Jacqueline Durran
Film Editing by Jon Gregory
Film Festivals: Cannes 2014, TIFF 2014
Cast Tags: Alice Bailey Johnson, Alice Orr-Ewing,Amanda Lawrence, Amy Dawson, Angela Curran,Billy Holland, Bob Goody,Clive Francis, David Horovitch, David Ryall, Dorothy Atkinson, Edward de Souza, Eileen Davies,Eleanor Yates, Elizabeth Berrington, Fenella Woolgar, Francesca Zoutewelle, Fred Pearson, Helen Cooper, James Dryden, James Fleet,James Norton, Jamie Thomas King, Joshua McGuire,Judi Scott, Judith Amsenga, Karina Fernandez, Karl Johnson,Kate O’Flynn, Lee Ingleby,Leo Bill, Lesley Manville,Marcello Magni, Marion Bailey, Mark Stanley, Mark Wingett, Martin Savage,Michael Culkin, Michael Keane, Ned Derrington, Niall Buggy,Nicholas Jones, Nicholas Woodeson, Nicola Sloane,Oliver Maltman, Patrick Godfrey, Paul Jesson,Pearl Chanda, Peter Hannah, Phil Elstob,Richard Bremmer, Richard Cordery, Richard Dixon,Robert Portal, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Ruby Bentall, Ruth Sheen, Sam Kelly, Sandy Foster,Simon Chandler, Sinead Matthews, Stuart McQuarrie, Sylvestra Le Touzel,Terrence Hardiman,Theresa Watson, Timothy Spall, Tom Edden, Tom Wlaschiha, Veronica Roberts, Vincent Franklin
Academy Award Nominations
Best Cinematography (Dick Pope)
Best Costume Design (Jacqueline Durran)
Best Music – Original Score (Gary Yershon)
Best Production Design (production design: Suzie Davies; set decoration: Charlotte Watts)
New York Film Critics Award
Best Actor (Timothy Spall)
Los Angeles Film Critics Award Nomination
Best Cinematographer (Dick Pope)
National Society of Film Critics Awards
Best Actor (Timothy Spall)
Best Cinematography (Dick Pope)
Nominations
Best Picture
Best Director (Mike Leigh)
National Board Of Review Award
Top Ten Independent Films
Cannes Film Festival Award
Best Actor (Timothy Spall)
British Academy Award Nominations
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Make Up & Hair
Best Production Design
European Film Award
Best European Actor (Timothy Spall)
