Director: Mike Leigh

Starring: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson & Dorothy Atkinson

Running Time: 150 mins

Release date: 31 Oct, 2014 (UK)

Worldwide Gross: N/A

 

 

 

 

Basic Plot:

 

It’s the early 19th Century and Joseph Mallord William Turner (Timothy Spall) is enjoying great popularity and controversy as a member of the Royal Academy of Arts. However his transient nature and personal problems put him at odds with his contemporaries and family. The death of his father (Paul Jesson), the only person Turner expresses close affection for, has a profound effect on his mental health and work. When the public and aristocracy begin to mock his paintings and Turner is driven to travel more frequently, he begins an affair with Sophia Booth (Marion Bailey) a widowed landlady. Though his health rapidly deteriorates Turner continues to produce works of stunning beauty to be cherished by the public after his death.

 

Clock Watching? 13/20 

 

Be sure to get comfortable before watching. Director Mike Leigh has never been one for conventional narrative structure and so at 150 minutes Mr. Turner inevitably loses its momentum. It is by no means a bad film but it spends extraneous amounts of time establishing Turner's many quirks and demons. Lengthy dialogue exchanges dedicated to his irritable nature and artistic flights of fancy. Even his death is drawn out so much you begin to wish he would just croak already.

 

The best comparative is probably Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975), albeit with considerably more momentum and characterisation. The two films are both aesthetically pleasing, character-based period films whose pacing suffers just a touch too much for the amount of directorial flair on show. Fortunately, like Kubrick, Leigh has enough talent to mesmerise you with every shot, every line of dialogue. Not to mention that as much as Turner blusters about Timothy Spall has the charm and charisma to keep audiences in their seats.

 

Oscar Performances? 17/20

 

One of the reasons Mr. Turner succeeds in spite of its pace is because Spall carries it with grace and nuance. In contrast with the elegant beauty of his subjects Turner is presented as a thoroughly ugly creature; dour-faced, grumbling his lines with a throat full of phlegm. If nothing else you cannot say this is a romanticised vision of the artist, even Turner's breakdown over his father is a grim, noisy expulsion of snot and tears in a London brothel. Nonetheless, Spall's performance charms us with Turner's quiet passion for his work and almost pitiable nature as a consummate traveller. As cold and fleeting as the seas he so lovingly draws.

 

From his admirers to his contemporaries to his estranged mistress, other people are a source of constant frustration. His issues with women, implied to stem from his mentally ill mother, are all too clear in how he prays on his vulnerable but faithful housekeeper Hannah (Dorothy Atkinson). Turner's advances are forceful but with the casual passivity which exposes his isolation. It's an uncomfortable and sad experience to watch but the performance stands head and shoulders above everyone else.

 

Atkinson displays the quiet, long-suffering dedication that epitomises Hannah. Like Turner, an outcast ravaged by psoriasis, content to be only among the people she loves. Jesson on the other hand is pure working-class joviality as the elder Mr Turner, all throaty belly laughs and sharp wit. His rapport with Spall sells the closeness of the two characters, made all the sadder when he departs. Meanwhile Marion Bailey has little to do but radiate affection as Sophia Booth, with only a few key scenes to characterise her doting on Turner. The only downside to these performances is that they are mere adornments to Spall's centrepiece.

 

Lights, Camera, Direction? 18/20

 

As an elaborate period piece, Mr. Turner is probably the most technically complex Mike Leigh has made to date. To his credit he meets the challenge with skill and vision. Predominantly an actor’s director (he usually works without a script) the emotions felt during the conversation-heavy scenes feel authentic even with period dialogue. What's surprising is how much beautiful everything looks through Turner's eyes. Every landscape is a painting in waiting with rosy, intense colours all stunningly shot.

 

Tell a Friend? 15/20

 

Tell an old friend, the kind who adores Downton Abbey, and has the free time to enjoy it.

 

Again? 16/20

 

As with Barry Lyndon this is a film destined to be examined by critics and cinephiles like myself for years to come. For others it will be an enjoyable distraction on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.

 

Total: 79%

 

In Mr. Turner, Leigh has made a beautiful, poignant character piece buoyed by a career best performance from Spall. A pairing come to life whose only flaw is that it forces you to stare a little too long.

 

by Liam Macloed