La vida electrizante de Louis Wain

Greetings again from the darkness. If you fancy yourself a cat lover, you've likely seen his drawings, or at least some of the many 'copies' that other artists have produced over the years. Louis Wain was a prolific British illustrator, best known for his anthropomorphic paintings and drawing of cats (think of the kitschy paintings of dogs playing poker). Writer-director Will Sharpe and co-writer Simon Stephenson have delivered a biopic of Wain that focuses less on his art, and more on his gradual mental breakdown.

The film opens in 1881, and Louis Wain (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is a young man, whose life has just drastically changed. The death of his father has forced Wain into the role of breadwinner for his five younger sisters and their aging mother. Initially, we aren't sure what to make of Wain. His stern and demanding sister Caroline (Andrea Riseborough) is unforgiving of his whims and demands that he find steady work to support the family. An interview with an editor/publisher played by Toby Jones allows us to see what a gifted illustrator Wain is ... and his speed is substantially due to an incredible ability to draw with both hands simultaneously.

Wain's eccentricities include a belief in the electrical currents that drive all life forms. The film doesn't spend much time on this, but it seems to be a cog in his mental illness - deemed schizophrenia (though that's been debated). Wain overcomes his insecurity around his cleft lip and marries Emily Richardson (Claire Foy), the governess to his sisters. For the times, this was quite a scandal, given the differences in age and social standing of Louis and Emily. However, it seems as though she was the only one who understood and encouraged him as an artist.

When tragedy strikes, Wain becomes inspired by their pet cat, Peter. In fact, Peter becomes Wain's muse, and leads to thousands of drawings for publication in newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, and just about every other platform. Olivia Colman provides some lively narration, and Taika Waititi and Nick Cave both have brief cameos. Cumberbatch is a bit over-the-top with his tics in the first half of the film, but his talent is clear as he portrays a man whose mental health deteriorating, and one who must rely on his special skill to find purpose. Wain spent the last 15 years of his life in a hospital, illustrating right up until the end. While Wain's legacy lives on in his work, there is also a message here - embrace your weirdness!

Amazon Studios will release THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN in theaters on October 22nd, 2021 and on Prime Video on November 5th, 2021.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is an incredible drama that's funny, extremely emotional and eccentric almost to a fault. A film that's closer to a true heartbreaking tragedy, despite all it's stylish quirks.

Benedict Cumberbatch adds another terrific lead performance to his already impressive career with a tragic yet loveable character. He also has superb chemistry with Claire Foy, who is great and essential to the emotional core of the film.

Will Sharpe's direction is fantastic, consistently beautiful in its imagery and effortlessly stylish. The music by Arthur Sharpe is amazing, matching the films tone perfectly by being both painful and inspirational.

*Seen at The Toronto International Film Festival on September 12th, 2021.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021) is an amazing film that's based on a true story. The film really reminded me of The Imitation Game (2014) and that's perhaps because of Benedict Cumberbatch's performance that really reminded me of his character Alan Turing (from The Imitation Game) and also perhaps because both Alan Turing's life and Louis Wain's life were full of obstacles. But, in my opinion, Benedict Cumberbatch's performance in this film is way better than his performance in The Imitation Game (2014). His acting was so genuine, especially that there are so many scenes in the film (emotional/dramatic scenes) where the camera was mainly focusing on his face. There's a specific scene in the 2nd half of the film where the camera was mainly focused on Benedict's and Claire Foy's faces for maybe 3 whole minutes and the camera didn't cut so it was a long take scene and they both presented the best performance that I have ever seen for both of them.

The cinematography was so beautiful and the film is visually stunning especially that the film had so many shots that look like an actual painting. Sometimes I felt like in a few scenes the film had that "Wes Andersen style" with the camera movements, the set design, and the cinematography. I also really really loved that the film was shot in the 4:3 aspect ratio.

Loved the editing and the transitions in the film especially in these moments where the Director wanted you to feel how/what Louis Wain is feeling.

One little small detail that I enjoyed as well is Olivia Colman narrating the film as if it is a fairy tale. I felt like using this method/way of telling this story made the film less heavy or less boring, especially that Louis' story could seem dull/sad/depressing sometimes.

But my only problem with the film is that I felt like the film focused too much on the "romance" especially in the first half. Also, there's a specific event that occurs that changes the direction of the film and shifts it. The movie jumps all of a sudden and immediately after that event to a whole new event which confused me because I wanted to see what happened and how Louis dealt with that. After that event, the film went down a bit and started to be boring and it lost the taste that it had since the beginning.

Also, I got to point out that the custom design, set design, and hair & makeup were very well made especially the hair & makeup which really surprised me, especially at the end when all the characters became "old".

My rating is 7.5/10 Watched: at home.

I may be doing the movie a bit of a disservice mentioning that other movie that came out a few years ahead of this. Which also has nothing to do with this movie ... apart from this having cats in it too. Although in this case, the cats are ... well mostly just that: cats! And not people CGIed as cats.

I probably shouldn't be explaining too much, I reckon if you have seen the movie you'll get the joke. And if you don't want to watch it ... well you'll be missing out on an amazing performance by Benedict Cumberbatch! That Dude is really something ... I saw an interview with him a while ago ... he really takes his craft seriously ... and yet always injects fun into the making of the movies he is in. Like skateboarding while being dressed as Dr. Strange.

I can only imagine what he did on the set of this movie. With so many talented other actors surrounding him - many of them being female (and part of the family of the character he portrays). I am not aware of the actual Louis Wain, but he seems to have had a rough life. Not sure how many liberties or how big the liberties are that the movie is taking, but it makes up for a coherent piece of storytelling. And what more can one ask for?

I have to give this film credit as it does get many things "right" about Mr. Wain's life, which is rare in modern "true" films, but not everything, and maybe not the "most" important part of the film.

Wain wasn't "crazy", today many experts agree he was likely autistic in a world that didn't "understand" autism. Look it up, please.

He was thought to be psychotic late in life, but his creativity didn't diminish in those later years, it flourished. Historically speaking, psychiatric patients who are diagnosed with serious mental illness generally "lose" their artistic talents. Wain never did.

What "is" true from the film is that Wain dearly loved his wife, as portrayed, and he changed the way the world looked at cats, and I'm grateful he did.