| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | TOPSY-TURVY (1999) |
| Director | Mike Leigh |
| Writer | Mike Leigh |
| Lead Actor | Jim Broadbent |
| Cast | Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Dexter Fletcher |
| Genre | Biography, Comedy, Drama, History, Musical |
| Release Date | February 11, 2000 (United States) |
| Duration | 2h 40m(160 min) |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Language | English |
| IMDB Rating | 6.7/10 |
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TOPSY-TURVY
The operettas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan (Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore) may have slipped out of the popular consciousness. But they were at the top 100 years ago. In recent decades they’ve been kept alive, at least for elites, in revivals by light opera companies in major cities. Now Mike Leigh (creator of Secrets and Lies) brings on this richly detailed film, an homage to a creative seminal era in English-language musical theater.
It covers the 1880’s period when the legendary partnership of witty writer-lyricist Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) and composer Sullivan (Allan Corduner) seemed ready to collapse. Then Gilbert attends an exhibition of Japanese culture in London and is inspired to write The Mikado, which becomes their signature hit. The rest of the film follows putting the show together through its rehearsals and opening night.
Voted the best of 1999 by New York critics, the movie appeals to a range of tastes. Famous numbers are performed with historical authenticity. We also see their evolution in instructive and often hilarious rehearsals. The contrasting private lives of Gilbert and Sullivan are especially poignant, showing once again how elusive happiness is, even for the most gifted.
There is fun with the culture of the place and time, from its polite, often obtuse manners to horrific visits to the dentist and coping with the newly invented telephone. It was a marvelous age for the spoken language, and we have only to listen to it here to realize how much we have lost in our speaking skills in only a century. Lengthy but elegant, morally insightful tribute; adult sexual situations, O.K. for mature viewers.
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