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Topsy-Turvy
With Secrets & Lies, Mike Leigh stretched his prevailing themes, heightened
naturalistic style and improvisatory techniques to their probable limit. He also produced his
masterpiece, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and attracted large audiences worldwide. After
the deliberately minor-key Career Girls, Topsy-Turvy sees Leigh striking out in a
new, at first sight, surprising direction: a period piece involving historical characters. But,
once the initial shock has worn off, it's clear to see that Topsy-Turvy is still very
much a Leigh film. An account of Gilbert and Sullivan and the making of 'The Mikado', it
dramatises a dilemma Leigh must have faced. Does he (like Gilbert) continue with a winning
formula and the likelihood of diminishing returns, or (like Sullivan) does he try for something
new, serious and more ambitious and probably much less commercial? Gilbert (played brilliantly
by Jim Broadbent) is a man who craves security, and prizes the superficially attractive - the
deeper darker realms of the emotions are dangerous to him. That has always been one of Leigh's
abiding themes, and as always the film is rich in details that give insight into these characters
and their society. DOWSE
Guide to the Movies
is
compiled by Tony
Lee editor of Pigasus Press Movies
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