'Mr. Turner': The protagonist is only a caricature
The great British painter J.M.W. Turner was by most biographical聽accounts a rather colorless man, but his canvases are as fully alive as any聽artist鈥檚 who ever lived. Mike Leigh, the writer-director of 鈥淢r. Turner,鈥澛爃as set himself a double task: He wants to give us a Turner who can聽take his place in the great gallery of British eccentrics, and he seeks to聽duplicate the heightened lyricism of Turner鈥檚 paintings.聽
He and his cinematographer, Dick Pope, succeed marvelously with the聽look of the film. I have rarely seen a movie that so closely resembled the聽vision of a great artist without degenerating into a series of stills. The聽dynamism of Turner鈥檚 landscapes and seascapes are captured in a way that聽Turner himself might have applauded. (And the film was shot in digital,聽no less).
As for the dramatization of Turner鈥檚 life, it鈥檚 a mixed achievement.聽Although he is known for modern scenarios, Leigh, as he already聽demonstrated in the great Gilbert and Sullivan movie 鈥淭opsy-Turvy,鈥澛爄s great at period re-creation. The film encompasses the last 25聽years of Turner鈥檚 life (he died in 1851), and there is never a time when I聽didn鈥檛 feel immersed in that world. But, as Turner, Timothy Spall, whose聽performance won the top acting prize at Cannes, plays the part as a cranky聽burbler who grunts his way through life. I suppose he鈥檚 Dickensian,聽except Dickens did this sort of thing with a far richer palette (so to speak).聽
I never found a way into the depths of this man 鈥� he鈥檚 a caricature. His聽paintings seem to emanate from a different species entirely. I realize this聽was likely Leigh鈥檚 point: The source of his genius is unfathomable. But he聽overdoes the point. If there is not more to Turner than this movie, it鈥檚 only聽because Leigh didn鈥檛 go looking for it.
Still, there are marvelous moments strewn throughout the film, like聽the scene in London鈥檚 Royal Academy when Turner goads his rival, John聽Constable; or the seaside Margate scenes with his landlady, Sophia Booth聽(a wonderful Marion Bailey), who becomes his doting and somewhat聽uncomprehending companion. It鈥檚 a painfully uneven movie, but its best聽moments are ravishingly good. Grade:聽B (Rated R for some sexual content.)
