B

A monumental performance of a lifetime by Timothy Spall framed by beautiful cinematography (the opening shot is jaw-dropping), in a historically meticulously-researched, but often sadly tedious film.

One British iconoclast reaches through time to find another, and it proves a match made in heaven. Director Mike Leigh is known best for chronicling the quotidian existence of contemporary England’s wage-earning suburbanites in such films as Secrets & Lies and Another Year. Through close observation and an emphasis on improvisation, he finds enormous drama and humor in their lives without sacrificing subtlety. His new and perhaps finest picture is this luminous and well-researched period piece. The film focuses on the second half of the life and career of envelope-pushing Romantic painter J. M. W. Turner, whose interest in the fluidity of light and movement presaged Impressionism and abstract art

Leigh specializes in utilizing character actors with interesting, if not gorgeous and perfectly sculpted matinee-idol faces, and he awards Timothy Spall the role of a lifetime here as Turner. The actor portrays the artist as a rasping, scowling enigma of a man. He often growls and grunts in agreement or disagreement and has the undeniable air of a boor, but is also capable of surprising sensitivity and, of course, bewitched by his art and committed to comprehending the scientific properties of the light he finds so enchanting. He lived by his dying words: "The sun is God." The lush and sumptuous cinematography teaches viewers’ eyes to examine the various natural environments and even indoor spaces as Turner himself may have, their overall beauty resulting from a complicated equation of lines, motions, and the sublimity of light as it dances and refracts.

At times elliptical in structure, the film is decidedly not a hagiography. It explores numerous facets of Turner’s life, often contrasting the sheer majesty of his art with the chaotic and flawed way he existed in the moment and treated others. There are exciting scenes of camaraderie and rivalry set at the Royal Academy of Arts; the painters inspect, tease, and upstage one another as they race to finish their pieces before the opening of the annual exhibition. There is a bruising moment in which a nervous Turner eavesdrops from behind a wall as Academy visitors Prince Albert and Queen Victoria criticize one of his latest paintings, surmising he must be losing his eyesight. We also see him travel; he ventures to Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and France, among other countries, in search of experiences and vistas to commit to canvas, and at one point even ties himself a ship’s mast during a snowstorm so as to see the frightening tumult firsthand.

And then there are the profound, but volatile relationships shared with the select few people with whom the famous and aloof Turner became more than an acquaintance. Two women in particular come into sharp focus over the course of the film. One registers as an uplifting presence, the other as tragic. Dorothy Atkinson is heartrending as Hannah, a household maid with an inexplicable, almost pitiful devotion to Turner even as he exploits her for casual and unromantic sex. Their abrupt, heaving encounters become rarer as her face is blemished by worsening psoriasis. Marion Bailey, on the other hand, exudes common sense and salt-of-the-earth delight as Sophia, a widow whose onward-and-upward demeanor tames Turner’s tempestuous nature.

A

Spall is good, there are scenes that shine especially those dealing with art discussion, and the look of the film is great. However, this thing is way too long. Cut down that last half hour a lot because I was just waiting for Turner to die as it kept dragging towards it.