Mike Leigh's "Topsy-Turvy" is the work of a man helplessly in love with the theater. In a gloriously entertaining period piece, he tells the story of the genesis, preparation and presentation of a comic opera -- Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" -- celebrating all the dreaming and hard work, personality conflict and team spirit, inspiration and mundane detail, of every theatrical presentation, however inspired or inept. Every production is completely different, and they are all exactly like this.
Topsy-turvy is not a strictly biographical film. In it facts and fantasy continuously overlap and it is next to impossible to tell where the former end and the latter begin. But it does not matter because Leigh's objective was to reconstruct the atmosphere that preceded the staging of The Mikado, not chronicle the exact events that inspired it. The film succeeds in doing precisely that - it gives one the opportunity to experience the ruthless, chaotic and often bizarre world Gilbert and Sullivan shared.
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Dexter Fletcher
Country: UK, USA
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama, History, Music, Musical
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