Timothy Spall
Dorothy Atkinson
Marion Bailey
Paul Jesson
Lesley Manville
Martin Savage

Mike Leigh

150 mins.
Biography, Drama, History
December 19, 2014

Rated R for some sexual content (MPAA)

“Mr. Turner” is an odd sort of film. It’s full of idiosyncrasies. It has the look of a typical British period piece set in the 19th century – a balance of muted colors and picturesque outdoor scenes. (One distinguishing trait is the use of light and shadow to capture how the titular character sees the world. At times, we are treated to scenes that look like live versions of Turner’s paintings. We get a glimpse of what inspired those works.) But that is contrasted with a curious rhythm. The dialogue has a peculiar pacing that keeps you on your toes. This is the kind of film that forces you to conform to its standards. It doesn’t invite you into its world; no, it seems to exist merely to exist. The comment seems to be that this is how it was. Actually, the comment is that there is no comment.

To my American ears, much of the dialogue is barely comprehensible: The Turners, father and son, played by Paul Jesson and Timothy Spall, respectively, have a gruff and bemusing sort of dialect. (Most of the other characters speak with much greater clarity.) They have a close relationship full of inside jokes and other comments. We don’t know the significance of their back-and-forths, but they certainly mean something to them. That relationship informs the entire film, in a way. Furthermore, their personalities are in contrast to J.M.W. Turner’s (the son’s) brilliance as a painter. How can someone so inelegant create works that contain both a darker sort of beauty and insight? His profound misbehavior is the perfect foil to his art and a major contributor to how his art is received: both praised and reviled.

Viewers will never quite know where this film is going; it knows where it’s going, though. Writer-director Mike Leigh has created a singular take on the period-piece biopic, but that doesn’t mean that this is great (or even good). It’s a puzzle of a film that most critics have praised highly – they would – but I doubt that most other viewers will feel the same way. At about 2 1/2 hours long, this film never quite clicks. It dodges the viewer. The acting – led by the spitting, sputtering, and harrumphing performance of Spall – is strong, of course, and the cinematography is accomplished. The question is: Will you get it? Will you connect with the writing? I’m on the fence with this one. Its events always seem to be just out of reach.

Verdict: Somewhat Good

About: (Source: sonyclassics.com/mrturner)

MR. TURNER explores the last quarter century of the life of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), the singleminded artist who worked hard and travelled extensively.

Turner is profoundly affected by the death of his ex-barber father, he takes up with a widow, Mrs. Booth, a seaside landlady, and is plagued occasionally by an ex-lover, Sarah Danby, by whom he has two illegitimate adult daughters, whose existence he invariably denies.

He enjoys the hospitality of the landed aristocracy, he visits a brothel, he is fascinated by science, photography and railways, he is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, and he has himself tied to the mast of a ship in bad weather in order to paint a snowstorm.

He is celebrated by some, and reviled by others. He refuses an offer of £100,000 from a millionaire who wants to buy all his work, preferring to bequeath it to the British nation, whereas Queen Victoria loathes his work.

Throughout the story he is loved by his stoical housekeeper, Hannah, whom he takes for granted and whom he occasionally exploits sexually.

Eventually, he leads a double existence, living incognito with Mrs. Booth in Chelsea, where he dies. Hannah is unaware of this until the very end.