Rent The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021)

Striving for quirkiness, it loses any depth or feeling - The Electrical Life of Louis Wain review by JR

The mainstream arrival of electricity must have been almost miraculous and revolutionary in Victorian times. There is a totally unnecessary voiced narration that is annoyingly arch and supercilious. In the first few minutes, it says that everywhere 'smelled of shit'. This sets the tone for the rest of the film. By trying to avoid being a conventional biopic, nothing moving or evocative emerges. The extraordinarily talented and intelligent Wain's life was was blighted by mental illness and tragedy, and deserves better than this shallow affair.

A dogs dinner of a film - The Electrical Life of Louis Wain review by RD

It starts badly, with an frantic over the top scene of all the sisters going mad in a large

house. It's a mood setter for the rest of the film.

The next great gaffe is Claire Foy saying "for f**** sake" as she is found hiding in the wardrobe. It's not the only instance of 21st century language in a 19th century setting as the youngsters behave as gobby modern brats, and the f word reappears later. Any believability is shattered as the film continues with overacted scenes throughout.

The pace does slow at times but swings to the opposite extreme as over sentimental dullness which is very overindulgent.

There is so much to Louis Wain's life that could make several good films, but here it's all wasted on an amateurish directing disaster.

The finest part of this film is the final credits, where you can actually view many of the great pictures an good detail as they roll past.

Pointless Biopic - The Electrical Life of Louis Wain review by GI

This is a strange little film, an overly stylised biopic of the British artist Louis Wain (Benedict Cumberbatch), possibly a genius but remembered only for his cartoonish pictures of cats that he did for a London newspaper. There's a lot of Wes Anderson's cinematic visuals here as the director, Will Sharpe, tries to add some surreal and visual representations of Wain's declining mental state. The centre of the narrative is his marriage to Emily (Clair Foy - superb here) who dies of cancer and sends Louis into uncontrollable despair. Other than that the film meanders around a story that means little to the viewer with some very unfulfilling performances; Andrea Riseborough is a one note character as his shrill and unpleasant sister and Phoebe Nicholls as his mother barely says or does anything. There's also some cameos that feel a little too late and pointless including Taika Waititi and Nick Cave as H.G. Wells. Olivia Colman adds a rather droll narration and Toby Jones tries his best in a supporting role. Cumberbatch, who was also executive producer, channels his eccentric character performance much as he has done in other films and TV (Sherlock?) in a story that is really about a depressive artist who draws cats, in that sense the film leaves you feeling a bit empty despite the odd humorous moment.

How to waste a great cast - The Electrical Life of Louis Wain review by MW

The actors do what they can but this film is a mess. The story - bizarre to begin with - is erratic and mis-jointed, the script rambling and the direction clumsy. It needed a lot more editing, both of script and of final cut. If anything it teaches us how important aspects other than fine acting are to making a good film.