The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is a 2021 biographical comedy-drama film directed by Will Sharpe, from a story by Simon Stephenson, and screenplay by Stephenson and Sharpe. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough and Toby Jones.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Promotional release poster
Directed byWill Sharpe
Screenplay by
  • Simon Stephenson
  • Will Sharpe
Story bySimon Stephenson
Produced by
  • Guy Heeley
  • Ed Clarke
  • Adam Ackland
  • Leah Clarke
Starring
Narrated byOlivia Colman
CinematographyErik Wilson
Edited bySelina Macarthur
Music byArthur Sharpe
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • 2 September 2021 (2021-09-02) (Telluride)
  • 22 October 2021 (2021-10-22) (United States)
  • 1 January 2022 (2022-01-01) (United Kingdom)
Running time
111 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
LanguageEnglish

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain had its world premiere at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on 2 September 2021, had a limited release on 22 October 2021, and was released in the United States on Prime Video on 5 November 2021. It is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2022, by StudioCanal.

Premise

English artist Louis Wain rose to prominence at the end of the 19th century for his surreal cat paintings that seemed to reflect his declining sanity.

After his father's death, Louis Wain tries to look after his five sisters and his mother as a freelance artist. He is fortunate that Sir William Ingram, editor of The Illustrated London News, offers him a job as an illustrator. His life takes another positive turn when Emily Richardson, the new governess of his sisters, steps into it. She becomes the love of his life, and soon they take in a stray kitten they call Peter. It is unusual in the Victorian era to keep a cat as a pet, and the cat paintings that Louis painted from then on are just as unusual.

Cast

Production

Simon Stephenson's original script was selected for the Britlist of the UK's hottest unproduced scripts in 2014.[5]

The film was announced in July 2019, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough and Toby Jones cast. Will Sharpe would co-write and direct, with filming beginning on August 10 in London.[6] In August 2019, Aimee Lou Wood, Hayley Squires, Stacy Martin, Julian Barratt, Sharon Rooney, Adeel Akhtar and Asim Chaudhry joined the cast of the film.[7]

Release

The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 2 September 2021,[8][9] followed by a screening at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival that same month.[10][11][12][13] It began its limited release on 22 October 2021. It was released on Prime Video on 5 November 2021.[14]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 70% of 122 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Sparked by a pair of well-matched leads, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain honors its real-life subject by adding a dash of whimsy to the standard biopic formula."[15] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[16]

References
  1. "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain".
  2. Richardson, Jay (October 21, 2020). "Stath Lets Flats returning for Series 3". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  3. Trapunski, Charles (July 13, 2020). "INTERVIEW: SEX EDUCATION'S AIMEE LOU WOOD". Brief Take. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  4. "Taika Waititi, Nick Cave And Olivia Colman Cameos Revealed For The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain – Exclusive". Empire. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  5. Andreas Wiseman2014-11-20T11:54:00+00:00. "Brit List topped by Matinee Idol, Gateway 6". Screen. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
  6. And Deal kent Benedict Cumberbatch & Claire Foy To Star In Movie ‘Louis Wain’ For StudioCanal, SunnyMarch, Shoebox, Film4 & Amazon
  7. Ritman, Alex (August 27, 2019). "Stacy Martin, Hayley Squires Join Benedict Cumberbatch in 'Louis Wain' for Amazon, StudioCanal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  8. "Telluride Film Festival Program Guide" (PDF). Telluride Film Festival. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  9. Hammond, Pete (September 1, 2021). "Telluride Film Festival: Will Smith's 'King Richard', Peter Dinklage Musical 'Cyrano', Joaquin Phoenix In 'C'mon C'mon', Ken Branagh's 'Belfast' Set To Premiere". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  10. Haylock, Zoe (2021-07-20). "Neon Acquires Zhang Yimou's One Second Ahead of Toronto Film Festival". Vulture. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
  11. "Comcast's Sky Inks Content Deal with StudioCanal". The Hollywood Reporter. 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
  12. Kanter, Jake (2021-01-18). "Amazon Adapts Son Heung-Min Series For UK; Sky Signs Movie Deal With Studiocanal; UK's Indielab Accelerator Opens — Global Briefs". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
  13. Joe Anderton (2020-11-30). "Benedict Cumberbatch stars in new look at Louis Wain biopic". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2021-02-15.
  14. Staff, Times (August 26, 2021). "Virtually every movie coming to theaters or streaming this fall". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  15. "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  16. "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.