{"id":16028,"date":"2014-10-10T16:39:27","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T15:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=16028"},"modified":"2015-08-14T18:51:18","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T17:51:18","slug":"lff-2014-mr-turner-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2014\/10\/10\/lff-2014-mr-turner-review\/","title":{"rendered":"LFF 2014: Mr. Turner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Director Mike Leigh<\/a> brings the life of Victorian painter J. M. W. Turner<\/a> to the screen, with the help of a tremendous central performance from Timothy Spall<\/a> and some dazzling visuals by cinematographer Dick Pope<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Covering the last 25 years of his life, we begin with Turner (Spall) at the peak of his career, a somewhat eccentric but brilliant landscape painter who commands respect among his peers, despite (in their eyes) coming from a more modest background.<\/p>\n

The narrative also delves into\u00a0various\u00a0relationships over this period: his doting elderly father (Paul Jesson); housekeeper and lover (Dorothy Atkinson); an estranged partner (Ruth Sheen), with whom he has fathered children; a landlady he meets on a trip to Margate (Marion Bailey); Scottish polymath Mary Somerville<\/a> (Lesley Manville) and art critic John Ruskin<\/a> (Joshua McGuire).<\/p>\n

Whilst all of those actors shine in supporting roles, it is Spall who dominates with a performance of rare quality. The physical movement, intensity, and rough edges he brings to Turner are all a delight to watch, but he also manages to use silence to express the painter\u2019s emotional distance from people.<\/p>\n

The slow-burn episodic narrative is effective in immersing us into his world. Details of his life are presented, but they always seem to be in the shadow of his artistic obsessions.<\/p>\n

The technical presentation of these is remarkable, as Leigh and his long time cinematographer Dick Pope have crafted a visual look, which uses Turner\u2019s work as a reference point. Added to this, the production design by\u00a0Suzie Davies, art direction by\u00a0Dan Taylor and costumes by\u00a0Jacqueline Durran are all impeccable.<\/p>\n

The choice to use the digital ARRI Alexa camera<\/a> was an interesting one, as the film looks very analogue, but perhaps shooting on digital offered greater latitude in capturing colour and light<\/a>. After all, embracing new methods in order to capture light is essentially what Turner was doing in his later period.<\/p>\n

Whether you are an expert or being introduced to Turner, this is one of the best recreations of an artist, and ranks alongside Pollock<\/a> (2000), Le Belle Noiseuse<\/a> (1991) and Van Gogh<\/a> (1991) as one of the best depictions of a painter at work.<\/p>\n

Some art historians, even one who actually advised on the film, have quibbled about details, but the wider thematic point seems to be the conflicts a mature artist has to face when he has already broken through and achieved a great deal of respect.<\/p>\n

The choice to eschew the \u2018early years\u2019 was a wise one, and perhaps the result of Leigh\u2019s own introspective thoughts as an established filmmaker who still feels like an outsider in an industry filled with social and financial restraints.<\/p>\n

Questions like: \u2018What have I really achieved?\u2019, \u2019What is my art worth?\u2019 and \u2018Why do I do what I do?\u2019 seem to be in the air, both for the director and subject of this film.<\/p>\n

Leigh has always carved out his own identity in an industry susceptible to conformity and now at 71, he is regarded as one of the great British directors.<\/p>\n

In Mr. Turner one can still detect a defiant spirit (the list of financiers on the credits seem to indicate his determination to get it made) and a certain satisfaction in going his own way.<\/p>\n

The result is also deeply satisfying, a richly layered portrait of an artist that ranks highly amongst Leigh\u2019s best work.<\/p>\n

Mr. Turner<\/strong> screened at the London Film Festival on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th October 2014<\/em><\/p>\n

> Mr. Turner at the LFF<\/a>
\n> Watch the official trailer
\n><\/a>\u00a0Find out more about J.M.W. Turner at Wikipedia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Mike Leigh brings the life and art of Victorian painter J.M.W. Turner to the screen, with the help of a tremendous central performance from Timothy Spall and some dazzling visuals by cinematographer Dick Pope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,20,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16028"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16238,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16028\/revisions\/16238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}