Stars: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Ron Cook, Wendy Nottingham

Director: Mike Leigh

Summary: The relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking point as Arthur Sullivan starts to run out of musical ideas for William Gilbert's predictable plots. One day Mrs Gilbert talks her husband into visiting an exhibition of Japanese life...

Director Mike Leigh's high-minded telling of the story of legendary musical team Gilbert & Sullivan is one of the director's most thorough, highly ambitious efforts. Concentrating mainly on the tumultuous period just before the conception and production of the pair's THE MIKADO (first staged in 1885), Leigh's film rings true with an authenticity that transports the audience back to Victorian England with remarkable ease. Leigh, who comes from an extensive theater background, researched this period in English history exhaustively, from etiquette to the costumes to the production numbers. Both Jim Broadbent (as the negative-minded William Schwenk Gilbert) and Allan Corduner (as the "genius," Arthur Sullivan) deliver impassioned, entirely believable performances, as do the supporting players--particularly Kevin McKidd, Lesley Manville, and Leigh regular Timothy Spall. Notably different from the director's previous brutally realistic, modern day examinations (such as NAKED and SECRETS AND LIES), Leigh's film bears genuine affection for the work of Gilbert & Sullivan, which shines through in every frame. Successfully blending comedy, music, historical drama, and human emotion, TOPSY-TURVY proves that Leigh is not just a brilliant chronicler of modern class conflicts in England; he is a thorough, sensitive filmmaker with a tight grasp on the human condition.

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At first glance, a musical period comedy-drama about Gilbert and Sullivan seems an odd fit for director Mike Leigh, who made his name with searing, intense contemporary dramas such as Secrets and Liesand Career Girls. What could the Victorian world of light opera offer a film-maker who specialises in the world of modern-day middle-class England? Plenty, as it turns out. A wonderful meditation on the creation of art, Topsy-Turvycatches Gilbert and Sullivan at a crossroads in their illustrious careers. Having scored numerous hits (like The Pirates of Penzanceand HMS Pinafore), they've reached a creative dry spot with their latest, Princess Ida. Composer Sullivan (Allan Corduner) despairs of ever being taken seriously, and vows to write a "serious" piece, much to the consternation of librettist Gilbert (Jim Broadbent), who's flummoxed and unyielding when asked to change another of his whimsical, "topsy-turvy" scenarios. All seems lost when, thanks to his wife's insistence, Gilbert attends a Japanese exposition in London, and faster than you can say "Three little maids from school are we", inspiration strikes.

The rest, as they say, is history, but Leigh re-creates the creative process with meticulous and loving care, from the writing of The Mikadoto its staging (wherein Gilbert acts as director), costuming, orchestration, rehearsal, and ultimate premiere. Some may balk at the running time of the film (almost three hours), but it's a journey well worth taking, down to the precise details of late-19th-century London. Still, you'll know you're in Mike Leigh territory, with his precise characterisations and a heartfelt, melancholy ending. And no one has a way with actors like Leigh. This peerless ensemble, headed up by Broadbent in an Oscar-worthy performance, inhabit their characters like a second skin, and it's wonderful to see an authentic-feeling period drama in which the actors resemble real people and you don't expect someone glamorous like Helena Bonham Carter or Rupert Everett to pop up. Gilbert and Sullivan aficionados will revel in the re-enactments of The Mikado(newcomers will likely be won over, too). All in all, a breathtaking film. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentary By Mike Leigh, Original Theatrical Trailer
Year:	1999
Release Date:	September 11, 2000
Runtime:	160 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	P 8968 D V D
Keywords:	General, Wide, Screen, Drama, Topsy, Turvy
Genre:	Drama