"Mr. Turner"

A two and a half hour biopic of a British Painter. I have to say that it cannot have been the easiest pitch to a studio in order to get a film financed. But if anyone was capable then it would be Mike Leigh.
Where with some biopics they may take just a section of someones life to provide the cinematic material, given the broad canvas that Leigh has given himself, we really do get to know J.M.W. Turner, and the world that he inhabited.
We see him at home, enjoying family time with his Father, and yet estranged from his past love and the children he fathered. We see him trek across the country, viewing landscapes, looking at nature, seeing first hand the inspiration for his work. He has a housekeeper who clearly is in love with him, but he just uses her for his own sexual gratification.
He is a fascinating man, not common, but rough around the edges. Sometimes a conversation with consist of the odd grunt here, a hurrumph there.
There are some wonderful scenes where the artists of the day have their works displayed and are given licence to amend them. Here he takes great pleasure in winding up fellow artist John Constable. It is a scene full of humour, but also great skill as we see how Turner takes what seems to be an attack on his competition and turn it into a mastery of art.

We see Turner experience loss, both of his Father and also one of his Daughters. And in these scenes especially Spall does truly amaze. But his performance throughout the film as a whole is dazzling, and that is bearing in mind he is on screen for the majority of those 150 minutes.

As the years progress, instead of continuing his fumblings with his housekeeper Hannah, he begins a relationship with Mrs. Booth who runs a Boarding House in Margate where he has visited many times, on his inspirational treks. Once her husband has passed, their relationship moves to a more intimate one. He clearly had an eye for the ladies, and it is the ladies who are at the heart of the film. His love for Mrs. Booth comes at the expense of his relationship with his house-keeper Hannah. The latter sets out to find out why he is spending less time at his London home, and upon discovering the truth is clearly devastated.
And it is Dorothy Atkinson, who plays Hannah, who gives the best work of her career. Watching this skin diseased woman shovel about the house, doing her masters bidding, she conveys the character with both humour and drama, Hannah is clearly longing for so much more from Turner, but is never going to get it.

Seeing some of the landscapes and scenery is like sitting back and looking at a beautiful work of art, and the film is wonderfully photographed, it does at times take ones breath away. Director Mike Leigh has one again created another wonderful character driven film, with performances from an outstanding cast, and stunning visuals.

Painting by numbers......more like watching a great Master at work...........8 out of 10