"A mighty work of critical imagination! A loving, unsentimental portrait of a rare creative soul." -The New York Times, Critics' Pick

4 Academy Award Nominations: Production Design, Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Score

"An inspired film, a beautiful exploration of art and creation and difficulty, with Spall's brilliant performance at its center." -Arizona Republic

A terrific exploration of the last quarter century of the life of great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner. Directed by acclaimed British auteur Mike Leigh ("High Hopes," "Secrets and Lies," "Vera Drake"), and starring Timothy Spall, who earned Best Actor honors at the Cannes Film Festival for his brilliant lead turn as the painter.

Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, Turner forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.