Mr. Turner

Parental Rating: R

Contains: Sex    Adult Content    

Jill's Review

Opens January 9, 2015 in Dallas (really a 2014 film for Oscar consideration)

Runs 150 minutes

This is a movie about the later years of the British landscape painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (Timothy Spall). He was a member of the Royal Academy of Art, where he studied for many years. He didn't have many close friends but he was always welcomed in polite society. His paintings were a little ahead of their time and he was both respected and criticized for his work. He lived with his father for many years and his father served as his apprentice and helper. They were very close and Turner was deeply affected when his father passed away. He had a loyal housekeeper, Hannah (Dorothy Atkinson) who he mostly ignored unless he wanted sexual favors. He traveled and painted. He never married, although he had two grown daughters that he largely pretended did not exist. As a younger man, he studied in Margate and returned there regularly to paint. When he was nearly 60, he met a lonely widow, Mrs. Booth (Marion Bailey) who he befriended. Eventually, they moved to Chelsea and he lived out his remaining years with her incognito as "Mr. Booth". 

First of all, the acting is top-notch in this film. Timothy Spall is just fantastic as Turner. He paints and he looks like he really knows what he is doing. Turner wasn't a friendly sort and he spoke in grunts a lot. Timothy Spall was able to convey quite a bit with his various grunts of both satisfaction and consternation. The scenery is beautiful. It feels like you are staring at a painting. The sunsets and hillsides are just gorgeous.  But, that is also the drawback of this film. There isn't much of a plot. We jump into Turner's life and follow him around for 20 years or so and then he dies. The period setting is flawless and the artwork is great but overall, the movie is very slow and long. If you like historical films, that are perfect period pieces, this might be for you. Otherwise, you might be a little bored.

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