The first poster for Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner has arrived and it’s looking splendid. The film made a splash at Cannes and won the Best Actor Award for long time Leigh collaborator Timothy Spall, who is joined by other regulars Ruth Sheen and Lesley Manville.

If you’re not seen his Gilbert & Sullivan picture, Topsy Turvy, it is well worth seeking out, not only for the fine period detail, but for the dynamic relationships colliding on screen. Mr. Turner looks to be another triumph for Leigh – look out for the announcement for its inclusion in this year’s LFF. The UK release date is scheduled for the 31st of October.

Synopsis ho!

MR. TURNER explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851).

Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies.

Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.

 

 

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