Topsy-Turvy

Herald rating: * * * *

Cast: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall

Director: Mike Leigh

Rating: M (nudity)

Running Time: 160 minutes

Screening: Village 12 Queen St, Rialto, Berkeley cinemas
Review: Russell Baillie


You don't have to like Gilbert and Sullivan to like Topsy-Turvy, a biopic of sorts of the masters of Victorian operetta and effectively the inventors of the modern musical. But it helps.

An appreciation of director Mike Leigh, whose tragi-comic films have largely thrived on the ills of modern British life, isn't required to appreciate his first foray into a period movie.

Leigh has picked a chapter in the lives of composer Sir Arthur Sullivan (Corduner) and librettist W. S. Gilbert (Broadbent) - that of the creation of The Mikado in 1884 and 1885 - to illuminate their peculiar successful and influential partnership while hinting that not much has changed in showbiz since the late 19th century.

There are conflicts between commerce and creativity, populism and integrity, rampaging egos and bad habits - and that's even before we get to meet G&S' colourful company as they wrestle themselves into the costumes of Nanki-Poo, Pooh-Bah, and Yum Yum.

The episodic story is centred on Gilbert, a part which character actor Broadbent outdoes himself in.

He's the gruff, unhappily married pragmatic foil to Sullivan's higher artistic aspirations - the McCartney to his partner's Lennon - who, when learning of the composer's urges to go it alone for art's sake, tells him: "If you want to write something about a prostitute dying of consumption in a garret, I suggest you contact Mr Ibsen in Oslo."

Finding that their previous effort, Princess Ida, has brought them critical contempt due to its "topsy-turvy" formulaic familiarity, Gilbert broods while Sullivan finds solace in the arms of his mistress.

But having found inspiration in a Japanese exhibition, the pair whip up their Oriental creation for their initially perplexed company of actors.

Leigh neatly intercuts the often anarchic rehearsals with glimpses of the finished product while creating an impressively authentic Victorian London.

Yes, at 160 minutes it is overlong, especially as it prefers to skip from gossipy dressing room to gossipy dressing room at the expense of much narrative momentum. But it's sharp-witted, sad, and vibrant throughout.

And if you do end up having Three Little Maids from School stuck in your brain for days afterwards, at least the film that put it there was worth it.

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Topsy-Turvy