{"id":4000,"date":"2015-02-11T07:06:25","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T12:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4000"},"modified":"2015-02-25T07:27:24","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T12:27:24","slug":"mr-turner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=4000","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Turner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"JMW

JMW Turner, “The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons” (1834 or 1835), approx. 36 x 48 inches.<\/p><\/div>\n

Because J.M.W. Turner is one of my favorite painters, I was eager to see this biopic (trailer<\/a>). The problem with biographies\u2014unless they stray into fictional exaggeration\u2014is they are stuck with the life the subject actually led. And Turner (played by Timothy Spall) led an undramatic one, on the surface. His struggles took place internally, as revealed in his art, which was both unconventional and prodigious\u2014nearly 20,000 individual oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings. Such intense preoccupation allowed the development of his talent, true, and fostered his eccentricities and a certain selfishness, also true, but left little material for the dramatist intent on exposing juicy interpersonal relationships to delve into.<\/p>\n

By the time the movie begins, Turner is already a successful painter and a man of independent means, so we miss the likely fiery relationship with the shrill woman (Ruth Sheen) who is the mother of his two grown daughters. \u201cStill doing those ridiculous sea paintings?\u201d she asks, when she comes hectoring him for money. The principal conflict we see is between him and the early Victorian painters who dominated the Royal Academy of Arts. Turner\u2019s paintings, which can seem abstract and modern today, were so far ahead of their time (remember, he died more than 160 years ago), the traditionalists had no language for them.<\/p>\n

Still, his works were not completely unappreciated. Some of the most amusing parts of the film are the scenes with the other artists and critics and with Turner\u2019s most influential advocate, John Ruskin (Joshua McGuire), later the prominent British art critic and social commentator. At the time of the film, he was in his mid-20s, struggling to appear erudite and pausing between each word as if to be sure to bring forth exactly the right one, yet gleeful in being a contrarian.<\/p>\n

Mike Leigh cast actors he\u2019s used before\u2014not just Timothy Spall, grunting and growling, but also Marion Bailey, Lesley Manville, Martin Savage, and others. We\u2019ve seen them in previous Leigh movies\u2014from Vera Drake<\/em> to Topsy-Turvy<\/em>\u2014and they create a believable ensemble around the principal. Deserving special praise is Dorothy Atkinson as Turner\u2019s adoring and mostly ignored maid-of-all-(and I do mean all)-work, increasingly disfigured by some rashy skin condition.<\/p>\n

If the film is a few brushstrokes short on typical interpersonal drama, see it for the beauty of the cinematography. Scene after scene recreates the diffuse and misty light that Turner\u2014\u201cthe painter of light\u201d\u2014sought out, when the whole sky partakes of the brilliance of the sun. Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> critics rating: 97%; audiences 60%.<\/p>\n

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