Review of Mr. Turner (2014) by Josh D — 22 Jan 2016

Written and directed by Mike Leigh, who is best known for dark and realistic kitchen sink dramas, he does a biopic, not the first time he's done one, he did Gilbert and Sullivan with Topsy-Turvy (1999), here, he takes on the life of landscape painter J.

M. W. Turner. Something like that might have come across as boring, but it has some brilliant performances and some beautiful cinematography. The film focuses on the last 25 years of the life and times of Joseph Mallord William Turner (Timothy Spall), renowned painter and a bit of an eccentric.

He has a close relationship with his father William (Paul Jesson), who helps sell Turner's paintings to high bidders, and he has a on-off relationship with his housekeeper Hannah Danby (Dorothy Atkinson).

But after visiting Margate to paint seascapes, he becomes a regular visitor of a boarding house owned by Sophia Booth (Marion Bailey), and Turner becomes infatuated with Sophia, and they become lovers after her husband dies, but Turner's work starts to suffer.

It's a very well made film, maybe a tad overlong, but it's worth it for the lead performance by Timothy Spall, who relishes the role, and plays the gruff eccentric card in his favour, and its a powerhouse performance, (Spall learnt to paint over 4 years to an expert level), and Leigh keeps it focused on Turner and the people he encountered.