Have no fear that Topsy-Turvy will so disorient you that you’ll lose all track of time; I had no trouble keeping the time considering how often I looked at my watch throughout the course of the film. A Gilbert and Sullivan operetta wouldn’t last as long as this film and that’s including an intermission. I can’t recall a film in recent memory so much in need of an editor as this one. Scene after scene runs unnecessarily long and the first half of the film prior to the staging of The Mikado itself could have been drastically reduced.
Perhaps films such as Moulin Rouge! and Chicago have placed in my mind unrealistic expectations on Topsy-Turvy seeing that these former films fall more squarely in the musical genre while the latter is a drama about theatre and music. Still, I had high hopes that Topsy-Turvy would sail along more like the whimsical HMS Pinafore and less like a labored three-week Atlantic crossing. Alas, there is little full-steam ahead in this film.
In all fairness, the movie does contain some strong points. First and foremost, the acting. The entire cast from bit player all the way up to the leads Jim Broadbent (Gilbert) and Allan Corduner (Sullivan) own their characters and fully commit themselves to their craft. I also love that there is hardly an attractive person in the entire cast; something about that feels right to me – like the filmmakers cast the best actor for a role and not the most attractive one (for this reason alone, you must love British cinema). Outside of acting, the film’s costume design won an Oscar and one doesn’t have to venture far into the film to see why. Perfect period costumes and wonderful stage costumes reveal both a strong attention to detail and an eye for beauty.
I believe that even a novice fan of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan will enjoy the second half of Topsy-Turvy as the film finally settles down to focus specifically on the staging of perhaps Gilbert and Sullivan’s most famous operetta, The Mikado. One can’t help but find compelling the sheer logistics and internal wrangling that accompanies the production of theatre.
If you’re a die-hard fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, theatre, or films about 19th Century England, you will likely find this film delightful. For everyone else, I recommend picking up the film’s soundtrack and skipping right to the good stuff – the music.
