Mr Turner: the fine art of historical biography

Director: Mike Leigh
Entertainment grade: C–
History grade: A

Known for his dramatic land and seascapes in oil and watercolour, JMW Turner was one of the most famous and controversial artists in Britain in the early 19th century.

Character

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The first couple of minutes of Mr Turner set the tone for the film. There are staggeringly beautiful shots of a Dutch landscape, filmed by cinematographer Dick Pope with a strong sense of Turner’s own colour palettes and visual style. Nothing happens for a spell. Then Turner (Timothy Spall) staggers back to London, grunts, and without ceremony grabs his housekeeper Hannah Danby’s (Dorothy Atkinson) breasts. Although the best-known image of Turner is the handsome self-portrait he painted in 1799, when he was around 25, the film’s characterisation of him as an ugly, grumpy, sullen and shambolic old man is accurate to contemporary descriptions. His rival John Constable was relatively generous about him on first meeting, writing that: “he is uncouth but has a wonderful range of mind.” The topographical artist Edward Dayes was harsher: “The man must be loved for his works; for his person is not striking nor his conversation brilliant.”

Family

Turner lives with Hannah and his father William (Paul Jesson), who had been a barber. Turner’s humble origins were evident to class-conscious Georgian society from his strong Cockney accent. The film correctly shows that the accent was so thick, and his speech so hesitant, that Turner could not always be understood when giving lectures. It is also right that he had an unusual domestic situation, though the exact details may be disputed. He is thought to have had relationships both with Hannah Danby and with her aunt Sarah Danby (Ruth Sheen). Sarah bore him two daughters, Evelina and Georgiana, kept secret from the public until he left them a legacy in his will. The film gives Sarah a massive chip on her shoulder about that situation.

Turner was a secretive man, and we know little about his private life or those of his lovers, so Mr Turner must speculate about these relationships. Some researchers have even suggested that Turner’s daughters were born to Hannah rather than to Sarah. The film has gone with the more traditional view.

Sex

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In addition to the Danby ladies, the film accurately shows that Turner set up house with his Margate landlady, Sophia Booth (Marion Bailey). Trying to impress him, she worries that her food is too salty. “It could never be too salty for me, madam,” Turner gurgles suggestively. “Ooh!” she exclaims. Mr Turner also shows the artist visiting a prostitute to draw her in an erotic scene. The real Turner did indeed produce large numbers of rude sketches. The art critic John Ruskin claimed to have burned sheaves of them in 1858, but 10 years ago an expert at the Tate Gallery came to the conclusion that this never happened. Ruskin is also in the movie (played by Joshua McGuire). Turner fans may enjoy the sweet revenge of it portraying him as an intolerable pillock who embarrasses himself following a hilariously tedious conversation about a gooseberry.

Editing

Despite wonderful highlights such as the scene with the gooseberry, the main problem with Mr Turner is that it has no real narrative. Turner gets older and even crankier; his paintings become more proto-impressionistic; his relationships with various women and incidental men rumble on; poor old Hannah Danby gets increasingly marginalised and scabby (she suffered from a disfiguring skin disease). It might have been a lot more enjoyable at two-thirds or even half the length, and little of the magnificence of its character study would have been lost.

Verdict

Mr Turner’s immaculate historical research shines out from the costumes, sets, dialogue and performances. While this is a exquisitely made film in almost every respect, though, it is kind of dull.