‘Mr. Turner’ Trailer: Timothy Spall Leads Mike Leigh’s Cannes Hit
This year’s Cannes Film Festival is just getting started, but it already seems to have one notable success storyMr. Turner. TheMike Leigh-directed biopic, which starsTimothy Spallas British painterJ.M.W. Turner, has been attracting smashing reviews and even some early awards buzz following its world premiere this morning.
When the film will get a general U.S. release remains to be seen — crowded in with the other prestige dramas this fall, perhaps? — but for now you can feast your eyes on the firstMr. Turnertrailer after the jump.
It’s been only a few hours sinceMr. Turnermade its bow, but in that time it’s picked up five-star reviews fromThe Guardian,The Telegraph,The Times, andTime Out London, as well as four-star reviews fromCineVueand theLondon Evening Standard.
Total Filmis wondering if it’s “Leigh’s masterpiece?” whileTHRthinks this is the role Spall “was born to play.” On a more lighthearted note,Mr. Turneris also notable for inspiringthis cheeky guideto Spall’s every groan and grunt in the movie. Apparently, there are a lot of them.
Granted, the echo chamber of a festival isn’t always the most accurate predictor of how a film will play among the general audience. But for now,Mr. Turneris certainly off to an auspicious start.
Here’s the synopsis fromCannes:
‘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.
