Topsy-Turvy

Theatrical Release Date: 1999 12 15 (USA)

UPC: 696306001928

Studio: Polygram USA Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language]

Summary: Noted for intimate character studies created in collaboration with his actors, director Mike Leigh makes a dramatic change of pace with this biography of comic opera composers W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) is an easily angered but otherwise emotionally remote lyricist who works in collaboration with composer Sullivan (Alan Corduner), a genial and fun-loving sort who feels unsatisfied writing light operettas and longs to work with more serious material. While Sullivan is having a creative crisis, Gilbert is facing a failing marriage to Lucy (Lesley Manville), who loves her husband even if he can't return her affections, and must deal with his ailing father (Charles Simon). When they suffer their first failure, both men are depressed, and Sullivan announces that he's giving up operetta for good. However, a visit to an exhibit of Japanese art sparks an idea in Gilbert, and soon he and Sullivan are hard at work on what will become one of their greatest successes, The Mikado. Much of the film is devoted to the staging of this classic, with Shirley Henderson, Dorothy Atkinson, Martin Savage, Timothy Spall, and Kevin McKidd as members of the operetta's cast. Jim Broadbent won Best Actor at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Comedy Drama

Awards: Best British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Original Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Makeup and Hair – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Art Direction – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Costume Design – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Makeup – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Makeup – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Volpi Cup for Best Actor – Venice International Film Festival Best Foreign Film – Independent Spirit Awards Best Picture – National Society of Film Critics Best Director – National Society of Film Critics Best Actor - Runner-up – National Society of Film Critics Best Picture – New York Film Critics Circle Best Director – New York Film Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts

Features: Widescreen 16x9
Theatrical trailer
TV spots
Featurette
Photo gallery
Cast and crew biographies and filmographies
About Gilbert and Sullivan
Dual layered
English 2.0 Dolby Surround
English 5.1
English closed captioned
Spanish subtitles
French subtitled
French subtitled
Aspect ratio 1.85:1

Topsy-Turvy

Format: DVD

Release Date: 06/20/2000

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 161 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1
0. Chapter Selection
1. Opening [:12]
2. I'm Going to the Theatre, Louis [:56]
3. Princess Ida First Night: "If You Give Me Your Attention" [:54]
4. The Notices [1:44]
5. Sir Arthur's Resolutions [:54]
6. King of Topsy Turvydom [2:21]
7. Recuperating in Paris [1:46]
8. A Heat Wave: "This Helmet I Suppose" [2:28]
9. Declining Receipts [4:58]
10. To the Savoy Hotel [1:33]
11. In This Instance, It Is a Magic Potion [1:01]
12. Everyone's a Critic [4:04]
13. Fanny Hosts a Salon: "The Lost Chord" [3:28]
14. No More Shots in My Locker [4:36]
15. The Sorcerer is Revived: "Incantation" [3:02]
16. The Divas' Dressing Room [1:34]
17. "But Soft.../Why, Where Be Oi?" [4:57]
18. At an Impasse [:38]
19. A Japanese Exhibition [3:54]
20. Never Bear a Humorous Baby [1:03]
21. Inspiration: "Behold! The Lord High Executioner" [2:00]
22. An Oyster Lunch [1:54]
23. Negotiations [2:38]
24. Music Rehearsal [2:32]
25. Costume Fittings [7:28]
26. "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" [:27]
27. Turning Japanese: "Three Little Maids From School Are We" [5:06]
28. Principal Rehearsal [2:32]
29. Orchestra Rehearsal [6:40]
30. "A More Humane Mikado" [2:19]
31. Notes [2:49]
32. Speaking up for Mr. Temple [1:47]
33. The Mikado First Night: "Mi-Ya-Sa-Ma" [2:03]
34. "The Criminal Cried As He Dropped Him Down" [2:54]
35. "Finale" [2:34]
36. Willie and Lucy [4:26]
37. Arthur and Fanny [1:47]
38. Leonora and the Mirror: "The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze" [1:29]
39. End Titles [6:36]

Derek Armstrong

Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy is such a faithful rendering of a past era, it's as though the director time-warped his cinematographer back to 19th century England. In his first period piece, Leigh transplants the grittiness of his films' usual working-class British milieu, and the result is a Victorian England with a lived-in look, rather than one glossed over by a fanciful sheen. Armed with this sort of authenticity, Topsy-Turvy becomes a new classic among movies, documenting the behind-the-scenes fits and foibles of a dramatic production. And what better production than The Mikado, the hilarious turning point in the careers of Gilbert and Sullivan, whose precarious professional status made the choice of a Japanese-themed operetta all the more fraught with peril. Leigh lets loose and gets big laughs from his cast of prima donnas getting fitted for kimonos and taking lessons from the misinformed about how to "act Japanese." But the film also contains Leigh's noted finesse for examining emotional distance, most notably between Gilbert and his long-suffering wife (Leslie Manville). And Leigh regular Timothy Spall is unforgettable as he tries to swallow his wounded pride, learning only days before the premiere that his big number will be cut. Topsy-Turvy is the rare film in which grand-scale art direction and intimate character study both feel absolutely true. To echo the succinct praise of Broadbent's Gilbert, Topsy-Turvy is "capital." ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Ashley Jensen  Actor 
Jonathan Aris  Actor 
Dorothy Atkinson  Actor 
Simon Channing-Williams  Producer 
Carl Davis  Composer (Music Score) 
Mike Leigh  Director 
Mike Leigh  Screenwriter 
Jim Broadbent  Actor 
Alan Corduner  Actor 
Lesley Manville  Actor 
Eleanor David  Actor 
Ron Cook  Actor 
Timothy Spall  Actor 
Kevin McKidd  Actor 
Martin Savage  Actor 
Shirley Henderson  Actor 
Wendy Nottingham  Actor 

Country: UK