MR. TURNER : Thursday 5th February 2015.

I received a phone call early yesterday evening to replace a sick friend at an open air screening of 'MR. TURNER' on a clear Sydney evening overlooking the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge from Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens. Needless to say I was very happy to accept this late invitation, having not yet seen this English/French/German Co-Production Directed by Mike Leigh and starring Timothy Spall in the lead role as Joseph Mallord William Turner - the much acclaimed and highly celebrated English painter who lived from 1775 to 1851, and whose transformational artistic legacy remains as relevant today as it did then.

This film is nominated for four Academy Awards, being Costume Design, Production Design, Cinematography, and Original Score, and interestingly it seems it has been largely snubbed by BAFTA with nominations also for  Costume Design, Production Design, Cinematography and for Make-Up & Hair too. No mentions here of Best Film, Best Director or Best Acting gong's for what would easily be a career best for Timothy Spall, and that you think would be a shoe-in for an English historical telling of one of it's favourite artist sons! If it's any consolation Timothy Spall has won Best Actor Awards for his portrayal of Turner at The Cannes Film Festival, and by the London and New York Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics.

The story here opens up sometime in the 1820's and we are quickly introduced to the principle characters being Turner himself, his father William Turner (Paul Jesson) a retired barber and wig maker  of some repute who now is Turner's assistant of sorts - buying exotic paint powders, mixing the paint and making canvas's of the right size for his son's artistic requirements. He is suffering with poor health increasingly, but stoically carries on for the love of his son and his craft - the two are obviously very close and when he dies in 1829 Turner Junior takes it very hard. Up to that point they had lived together in a sizeable house in London for some 30 years with their housekeeper Hanna Danby (played convincingly by Dorothy Atkinson). Danby had been Turner's housekeeper for forty years and the film depicts her (perhaps secret) love for him more that he for her, but nonetheless Turner exploited her for occasional sex throughout their many years together and despite his continued comings and goings she remained ever faithful. She survived him by only two years after his death in 1851 - having been a long term sufferer of psoriasis, which in time spread across her whole body.

Turner grew up in Margate - a small coastal fishing village which he started to return to later in life to paint and seek inspiration for his works. During an early visit he boarded with Sophia Booth (Marion Bailey) and her ageing husband in a small terrace cottage right on the harbour frontage, in a first floor room that looked out across the sea. He would return their year on year for many years during the summer months to paint and explore, and returning one year we learn of the death of Sophia's husband. Turner fairly quickly makes a move and before you know it they are an item and have consummated their feelings for one another. As the landlady with the mostest she becomes Turner's second lover and eventually she sells up in Margate so that they can both move together to a small little desirable residence in Chelsea on the banks of the River Thames. Throughout this period neither lover knows of the other - there is no marriage and there are no children, although Turner had two daughters by his first lover - Sarah Danby (played very po-faced by Ruth Sheen) who he distanced himself from and in time denied their existence - one died in childbirth in 1843 aged 32.

All of this is set against the backdrop of his painting; his studio time spent stabbing maniacally at his canvas to accentuate colour and depth in his artwork . . . often aided by a wad of spit; his toing and froing between London and Margate and then Chelsea; his membership at the Royal Academy of Arts and his interaction with his many contemporaries of the time; how well (or not) his works are received by the public, the critics and by Royalty; and as he grows older his own failing health, his increasing eccentricities and the legacy of his works which he remains steadfast will stay in England even when offered one hundred thousand pounds for them all back in 1850 by Joseph Gillott.

Timothy Spall excels in this role and is larger than life as J.M.W. Turner - his almost perpetual grunting; his mannerisms; his recreation of the colourful, almost prose like language of the time; his energy and enthusiasm; his triumph's and his tragedies; his then failing health; and his unwavering commitment to his craft that produced the legacy we have today.

Mike Leigh faithfully recreates the mood and the tone of the time in intimate detail and extracts from his cast nuanced performances that complete this whole package that will leave you wanting to Google 'J.M.W. Turner' after the credits roll to fill in the gaps that this film could not plug, but which nonetheless do not detract from what a great story this is, deftly handled and beautifully delivered.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-