Topsy-Turvy (1999)

Directed by

Mike Leigh

Genre

drama film, biographical film, musical film, comedy drama

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

2h 34m

Rated

R

Rating

6.6 of 10 from 166 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film follows W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan during the 15 months before their famous opera The Mikado premiered. It shows their creative disagreements and how they decided to keep working together.

livelyintimateperiodtheatricalwarmobservationaldetailedbittersweetplayful

What happens

Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 British musical period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert and Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan, along with Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville and Ron Cook. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. The work explores the creative conflict between playwright and composer, and depicts their decision to continue their partnership, which led to their creation of several more Savoy operas. The film received very favourable reviews, film festival awards and two Academy Awards for design. While it is considered an artistic success as an in-depth illustration of British life in the theatre during the Victorian era, the film did not recover its production costs. Leigh cast actors who did their own singing in the film, and the singing performances were faulted by some critics, while others lauded Leigh's strategy. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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