Topsy-Turvy

Gilbert and Sullivan are a successful musical team writing their shows for the Savoy Hotel in London. However Sullivan is tired and is suffering from ill-health. During a bad bout he resolves to no longer write for the Savoy with Gilbert but instead to recover in France and then to strike out alone and write a grand opera. Gilbert meanwhile, is showing signs of fatigue – coming up with plots that use the same devices to the same ends. However the two are contractually obliged to continue their relationship, a prospect both seem ill at ease with until Gilbert takes an afternoon off at an exhibition of Japanese culture, sowing the seeds of inspiration for The Mikado.

I honestly had never even heard of this film until the television premier in 2002, if you had told me Mike Leigh had made a film on such subject matter I would likely have laughed down my sleeve at such a suggestion. However I gave this a watch despite the fact I know little (or care little) for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and worries bout the fact it was 160 odd minutes long! However the plot is sufficiently well delivered to take those who only know a little about the pair to keep up. By taking the snapshot of the Mikado to show their relationship the film takes away what could have been a rough, sprawling epic – the snapshot works much better. The weaving of the production into the narrative, rather than all at the end, means that both sets of fans will be happy – there is enough music to please those who came for that, but also enough plot within to drive the film.

Leigh does very well, mixing humour and telling drama with the music of the show. The production of the film (and the production!) are both very good and the detail is fine. The cast are all excellent. Broadbent is good as the straight-laced Gilbert and his chemistry with the enjoyable Corduner works throughout. The support cast are all good in singing and non-singing scenes – I was surprised to see Spall carrying the tunes so well!

Overall this is a good film but I doubt that Gilbert & Sullivan will be much of a draw even now that it is on TV. However if you have the chance to watch it then you should push through your reservations and give it a try – it is engaging and humourous enough to overcome a lack of knowledge (or interest) in the pair's work.

TOPSY-TURVY, director Leigh's spectacularly entertaining look at the lives and times of the nineteenth-century British duo that gave the world such musical treasures as The Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore. Leigh's film finds G & S in 1884 at a creative impasse following the disappointing reception of their new flop operetta, Princess Ida. Sullivan (Allan Corduner), tired of writing music for the increasingly trite and repetitive librettos of Gilbert (Jim Broadbent), wants to give up their lucrative partnership and write "serious" grand opera. But when an exhibition of Japanese art and culture travelling through London inspires Gilbert to begin writing The Mikado, both men see the opportunity to create something unique and extraordinary. Praise for this stunning film must extend from top to bottom, beginning to end. The music, of course, is wonderful and ever present. The costumes, sets and cinematography are exemplary in their attention to atmosphere and detail. Leigh's script and direction not only bring the period to life, but make it crackle with drama, wit, and social comment. And the performances are fabulous, notably the magnificent Broadbent as mercurial Gilbert; Corduner, warm and charming as the more sweet-natured Sullivan; and Leigh regular Timothy Spall (SECRETS & LIES) as a veteran actor fearful that his big number may be cut. This is quite simply one of the most vastly entertaining, joyous and fascinating films ever made about the creative process. I actually saw it twice within a three-day period and wasn't bored for one second of either viewing!

Not being a big fan of opera (of the comedic variety or otherwise), I chose to watch this movie as a period piece, hoping to see a lot of eccentric characters putting on even more eccentric theatre. That was easy, since the trailer for the film points in that direction entirely.

What I didn't expect was a thoroughly entrancing inside view of the Victorian theatre. Not to mention comprehensive. Everyone is covered in this - from the stage boy through the chorus through the leads and producers and assistant directors. The telling of the complex relationships between the directors (Gilbert and Sullivan) and the leads is particularly poignant - whether dealing with the actors' considerable egos or their individual popularity among the chorus, nothing presented doesn't ring true.

I loved everything about this movie. It's a great story, told wonderfully by all involved. It is truly a film of much love and craft.

And I expect I'll be attending the next run of the Mikado next time it comes to town.

Mike Leigh's gloriously entertaining film, `Topsy-Turvy,' offers a wise and witty slice of musical theater history. Set in 1880's London, the movie chronicles the extraordinary personal and professional relationship between two giants of the 19th Century entertainment world, lyricist `Willie' Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. The screenplay, wisely, chooses to pick up the tale not at the very beginning of their collaborative career - tracing its rise and fall as many biopics would do - but rather at the point where the team has already garnered international fame and success but seems of late to be experiencing a bit of creative stagnation. Sullivan, tiring of the seemingly trivial nature of the librettos they've been producing, wants to break away and embark on his own to produce a work of more `weighty' merit. Gilbert, on the other hand, delights in his success and, although bothered by comments in the press that his work has begun to repeat itself, initially resists Sullivan's plea that they abandon their hitherto winning formula.

Thus, the conflict between the two men of creative genius plays itself out against the fascinating backdrop of a deliciously recreated vision of the theatrical world of a hundred-odd years ago. Just as important to the film as the two main characters is the rich assortment of secondary players - theater proprietors, company actors, wives, lovers and parents - who swirl around the principals and provide a colorful tapestry to match the exquisite art direction and costuming that adorn the film. In addition, Leigh incorporates clever references to some of the technological marvels just making their appearance at the time: telephones, reservoir pens and luxury hotels with baths for every room!

Leigh's pacing is admirably unhurried and relaxed. So rich is the detail of his vision that fully thirty-five minutes elapse before the two lead characters even have their first scene together. In addition, the inspiration for `The Mikado' - ostensibly the centerpiece of the film's plot - doesn't strike Gilbert until well into the second hour. Yet, the film never falters in interest, least of all when Leigh devotes long stretches of footage to showing us the actors rehearsing their parts or having us eavesdrop on some behind-the-scenes salary negotiations or discussions of artistic differences. This is the real triumph of the film: Leigh opens up a world to us by letting us see the fascinating nuts-and-bolts aspects of the creative process to which we, as members of a theatre audience, are rarely privy. He also is not afraid to linger long over many a beautiful reproduction of the musical pieces themselves. Leigh can count his film a success in that it makes us want to rush out and catch a performance of one of these operettas ourselves.

The film would not be the splendid success it is were it not for the dazzling performances of its amazingly large cast. Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner are perfection as the good-natured but often antagonistic partners, never playing the humor too broadly or violating the spirit of elite British gentility even in their most conflict-laden moments.

Indeed, it is this very quality of quiet subtlety that permeates every aspect of `Topsy-Turvy' and that makes it the wholly satisfying and entertaining film it is.

I was introduced to Gilbert & Sullivan in my very early teens under the auspices of the parents of one of my friends. They took us to Falmouth on Cape Cod to a place called Highfield, the summer home of the Oberlin College Players. They specialized in G&S and other light operettas.

I learned to appreciate G&S, but I never became a fanatical devotee, even with the historical context patiently explained to me by my friend's mom. (It was similar with Shakespeare. The language could be a barrier rather than a gateway.)

The audience in the theater where I saw Topsy-Turvy was filled with devotees. You could hear their delight as they viewed the actual performances of Gilbert & Sullivan's work in the film. The director, Mike Leigh, through skillful editing and camera work, does an excellent job of photographing a stage presentation, certainly one of the best I've ever seen on film. He uses closeups, and though the actors are using an exaggerated, theatrical style, somehow the G&S material has never been clearer to me; and I've seen at least a dozen G&S performances, including two D'Oyle Carte productions (Pirates and The Mikado), the present-day descendant company of the Savoy Theater depicted in the film. People who have never seen G&S before will appreciate their work here.

Most of all, the film is very much about the highly contrasting personalities of William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan, the former emotionally restrained, the latter a hedonist. Leigh allows us to get to know them quite well and a host of other characters too, though G&S are first among equals in this excellent, ensemble cast. Among the supporting players, I found Shirley Henderson to be increasingly interesting as the film progressed, and I felt rewarded when she was the central character in the last two scenes of the film.

The period settings, manners, and speech are very accurate and detailed. As presented here, the Victorian era seems physically stifling, with people leading their lives in the close quarters of dressing rooms, offices, restaurants, living rooms, and bedrooms. Even more stifling is the emotional inhibition masked by correctly blustery forthrightness. Toward the end of the film, there's a revealing and poignant scene between Gilbert and his wife which makes this all very clear, and what also becomes clear is how important theatrical presentations were to people then as a means of expressing themselves in a culture which sanctioned few quarters to do so. It's one of the best examples of Mike Leigh's direction.

The G&S operettas were, of course, a commentary on Victorian times. In the film, you can see why they were so wildly popular. In that period, I think so many people were so restrained and distant from their own feelings that even the, to us, mannered and wordy G&S operettas were a breath of fresh air in Victorian England. The few occasions when Leigh breaks out of consistently claustrophobic medium shots and closeups are when he gives us a wide view of the full, theatrical stage.

Topsy-Turvy is about how Gilbert and Sullivan refracted Victorian England through a proscenium arch. Mike Leigh refracts it again through the camera lens in a way that allows us to see ourselves in our times by looking at G&S and their operettas in theirs. This is a long film (over two and one half hours), and given the subject matter, not to everyone's interest, though it's far more than the specifics of the period and the material. I found it to be my favorite film of the year thus far, and I highly recommend it.