Mr Turner
Director: Mike Leigh
By Alex Watson
When a Mike Leigh picture rolls into view, it is time for critics to sit and take notice. One of the great visionaries of British cinema from years gone by, Leigh has an uncanny knack for being able to convincingly portray the problems of every day people to stunning effect. This year, after a glorious reception at the Cannes Film Festival, his picture Mr Turner, based on the final years of painter JMW Turner has arrived at the Toronto Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations. Leigh has only once before ventured into a period drama with his Gilbert & Sullivan picture, Topsy Turvy, so will this picture be as memorable as his earlier ones?
Looking at the last years of great but unconventional British painter, JMW Turner (Timothy Spall) it explores such events as the tragic death of his beloved father William (Paul Jesson), his travels around the country for inspiration and his love/hate relationship with the public and the art world over his particular style of painting. But in the midst of his work, he will meet widower who Sophia Booth (Marion Bailey) will go on to be one of the changing factors of Turner's life.
Mike Leigh's Mr Turner is a movie that has thoroughly earned the plaudits bestowed upon it and gives us one of the strongest offerings of British cinema this year. This may prove to be a slow journey for some and the almost Dickensian dialogue will no doubt prove difficult for some to grasp, but those who stick with this are richly rewarded. Dick Pope's Special Jury Prize winning photography brings the film alive and give us a visual feast to gaze our eyes and convince us on numerous occasions that they are like works of art themselves.
As a man Turner is not completely loveable, but Leigh never intends this to be picture that glorifies him. He is a puffy, grunting individual who enjoys the freedom that his success has brought him. Through this he is able to venture from place to place and to bluntly speak his mind to any number of men at the Royal Academy of Art. His large belly is always full from the rich tables he eats from, but yet he has a confidence that never crosses over into arrogant territory and in some ways he is kind towards his rivals, such as debt ridden failure Haydon (Martin Savage), with whom he refuses to recall a loan!
But in many ways he is a man who is continuously seeking company and there is a strong sense of loneliness that accompanies him. In one scene he engages a prostitute, but upon seeing her semi naked, he bursts into a unique crying moan. Cleverly, we are not sure whether this over the beauty of art, or his horror at her young age? There are former wives such as the neglected Sarah Danby (Ruth Sheen) whose children he refuses to acknowledge as his own. He occasionally sexually exploits his faithful housekeeper Hannah (Dorothy Atkinson) but later falls for Margate based landlady Sophia Booth, with whom he strikes up a peculair but everlasting romance.
Mr Turner's strongest element, is showing just how dedicated the artist was to his craft, one memorable sequence show him strapped to ships mast in the height of a storm to be able to accurately paint one! His picture are spat upon for him to achieve the cloudy canvases that are tolerated by his contemporaries but sometimes mocked in unison by the general public. Even in his ailing later days, Turner strives to be creative and being denied of this sends his older self into a depressing spiral.
Winner of the Best Actor Award at Cannes, Timothy Spall turns in a mesmerizing and career best performance as JMW Turner. His zest at finally get this meaty role shows throughout Leigh's picture and Spall splendidly gives the famed artist a sense of sympathy among his harrumphing figure. A regular of his directors work, Spall at last makes the transition from solid professional to potential winner of major prizes! There are also solid turns from Dorothy Atkinson as his loving, yet continually overlooked housekeeper and Marion Bailey who puts in a just and believable performance as life love, Mrs Booth!
Mr Turner is an experience to remember to all lovers of Mike Leigh and artistically this a high for this man and we can hope to see it reap a deserved reward come the awards season. JMW Turner is one of Britain's great painters and he is given a rightful picture tribute.
