Mr. Turner (2014)

Mr. Turner (2014)
Director : Mike Leigh
Writer : Mike Leigh (screenplay)
Starring : Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson

Hello all, 

After mulling over the choice between ‘Nightcrawler’ and ‘Mr. Turner’ I have plumped for the latter, mainly because my mum said she would come with me, but also because it’s more of a contrast to the previous two reviews which have been intense thrill rides. 

What makes ‘Mr. Turner’ so unique is the way in which it provides an informative and emotional depiction of one of the world’s greatest artists, yet at the same time confronts some of the most important issues in life and death, refusing to be solely bound to the genre of a biopic. 

The film’s opening shot totally sums up J.M.W Turner as a character, an eye catching landscape with two women chatting away unaware of the sun rising behind them. The camera then moves to Turner, sketching away, unaware of the women but so very present with nature and his pencil. Its just one of a number of utterly breathtaking pictures that Mike Leigh, the film’s director, paints with his own paintbrush - the camera. The film is like one big painting really with Leigh using palettes that replicate that of a Turner masterpiece. 

I know a little bit about Turner as an artist, I studied History of Art at A level, but of Turner as a person I knew little until now. Leigh shows us all of Turner’s incredibly complex relationships with women, from his maid who clearly is madly in love with him to his estranged daughter’s both who Turner shows very little emotion for. His most touching relationship though is with his father, who lived with him for the last thirty years of his life acting as his assistant. In the film Timothy Spall, who plays J.M.W Turner, is at his fathers side when he dies. It’s a really wonderful moment, a single tear drops down Spall’s face, its oscar-worthy acting but better because it’s so natural and real. This kind of moment in film tends to draw epic music and a despairing cry of anguish, instead we sit in silence watching Turner lose his best friend and the man he still calls ‘daddy'.
 Although he’s unconventional and certainly a flawed character, Turner is someone who has found their true passion in life and is unwilling to give it up for anything. When confronted with illness, Turner’s doctor, who is a fanatical fan of his, tells him to calm down or face an early grave. For Turner life is not about settling down but it is about grabbing life and extracting the maximum experience the world has to offer, which for him is through a communion with nature. Painting is the only real way Turner can express his feelings. His most common line is a grunt, and Spall does an excellent job of conveying sadness or elation through his grunting and rumblings but he is at his most emotive when silent with a brush in hand at his easel. Nothing else holds meaning for Turner, not sex, not love or money. All that he truly cares about is about painting and leaving a legacy. Turner turns down an offer equivalent to £100 million for all his drawings and paintings, instead he choses to leave his entire legacy to the British public so that they can admire his work for ever and for free.

There’s a scene towards the end of the film where Turner overhears the King and Queen berating his art, but although he is hurt he knows deep down that his work represents something bigger than them - it is a wonderful moment of revelation in the film. As one character says to him “the universe is chaotic and you make us see it”. This is so true. He found a way of showing us the world as it really is in a way that we could not have imagined but that has stayed with us for generations. Turner's impulse and passion to paint is inspiring. His emotions, his experiences and his life are all imprinted in his paintings. This film is telling us to search for that same passion in whatever field that may be. No matter how crazed he may seem, I think we could all do with having a bit of Turner inside us. 

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Next week's review is going to have a serious twist, so be prepared, it may be later than monday though as i'm involving a friend of mine in the process. Exciting times ahead. 

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Josef