[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Verdict: A meticulous valentine to the theater that gently contrasts everyday reality and artistic creation.

Details: Starring Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner. Directed by Mike Leigh. Rated R for a scene of risque nudity. 2 hours, 39 minutes.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: You don't have to be a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas to enjoy "Topsy-Turvy." But a love of the theater can help you appreciate Mike Leigh's meticulously detailed valentine to performers of the 19th century.

At first glance, the film seems to be a startling departure from Leigh's usual kitchen-sink realism (he's best-known in America for "Naked" and "Secrets & Lies"). But it's not really. Despite the period costumes and Victorian furniture, the writer-director is continuing to do what he does best: document everyday moments and present a rich slice of life. This slice just happens to be set 100 years ago, and it's populated with historical characters instead of fictional.

Opening in 1885, the movie finds longtime collaborators William Gilbert (Jim Broadbent), the librettist-director, and Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner), the composer, at an impasse after years of success. Their latest operetta, "Princess Ida," isn't drawing the expected crowds. Sullivan has tired of Gilbert's repetitive librettos, which send characters into a land of "topsy-turvydom," usually via a magic spell or potion. Each man claims that he subverts his own gifts to the work of the other.

Covering only a tiny portion of their career, "Topsy-Turvy" focuses mainly on the rejuvenation of the men's partnership when Gilbert, inspired by an exhibition of Japanese culture, comes up with the idea for "The Mikado."

This isn't a biopic per se. Most biographical movies look at their subjects from the outside in. "Topsy-Turvy" (reflecting its own title) does the opposite. It places us in the midst of the lives, triumphs and frustrations of Gilbert, Sullivan, their actors and their loved ones.

The actors include longtime Leigh collaborator Timothy Spall as an insecure baritone and Kevin McKidd as the opera company's romantic lead, a Scotsman who objects to the leg-revealing kimono he's required to wear. While Gilbert is married to plucky, forbearing Kitty (Lesley Manville), Sullivan spends time with the husky-voiced, sensual widow Mrs. Fanny Ronalds (Eleanor David).

"Topsy-Turvy" shows us who they are, but it's equally interested in what they do. Leigh revels in the process of work and creation. That includes a beautifully sustained rehearsal scene between Gilbert and his actors, as the writer-director tells his cast exactly how to speak a line and move. We also witness Sullivan guiding his orchestra, politely pointing out the mistakes they've made in their playing. The movie places equal focus on mundane moments, such as the hanging of an ornamental sword on a wall or the nervous tics of actors waiting around backstage.

For many viewers, this may spell boredom. But if you get into the movie's rhythm, you start to see what Leigh is up to: He's gently balancing life against art, the demands of the daily world against the pleasures of theater.

The lead comedian (Martin Savage) has a drug problem, the ingenue (Shirley Henderson) has a secret, and her colleague (Dorothy Atkinson) has a bum leg and has to rely sometimes on a cane. The movie doesn't italicize these things, but quietly presents them as part of the texture of life.

Even Gilbert, who should be happy with his success, always seems to be somehow bothered by it. His marriage is the most poignant relationship in the movie. While Gilbert's work speaks directly to the thousands of Londoners who flock to his show, he can't really make a true human connection to his own wife.

Bit by bit, Leigh shows us that the blissful upside-down worlds Gilbert and Sullivan created were a place that everyone — including the artists involved — could escape to as a way to forget the everyday disappointments and frustrations of real life. Spall's character sums up the movie's theme succinctly with three words: "laughter, tears, curtain."

The ensemble is superb, but it's Broadbent who turns in a monumental performance. His Gilbert is a mountain of stoked pomposity, given to shouting "horror, horror, horror" at the breakfast table on hearing that ticket sales are slacking off. He doesn't even crack a smile when he's reciting his own witty-silly lyrics. The only time his dour bulldog face melts into something close to happiness is when the inspiration for "The Mikado" sparks his brain.

"Topsy-Turvy" is the sort of movie that asks you to be patient with it, to live with its characters for a few hours. Despite its draining length, it proves to be even better and richer on a second viewing. And for G&S fans, it serves up several delightful re-creations of numbers from "The Mikado" and other works.

— Steve Murray, Cox News Service

[an error occurred while processing this directive]