La vida electrizante de Louis Wain

Greetings again from the darkness. If you fancy yourself a cat lover, you've likely seen his drawings, or at least some of the many 'copies' that other artists have produced over the years. Louis Wain was a prolific British illustrator, best known for his anthropomorphic paintings and drawing of cats (think of the kitschy paintings of dogs playing poker). Writer-director Will Sharpe and co-writer Simon Stephenson have delivered a biopic of Wain that focuses less on his art, and more on his gradual mental breakdown.

The film opens in 1881, and Louis Wain (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is a young man, whose life has just drastically changed. The death of his father has forced Wain into the role of breadwinner for his five younger sisters and their aging mother. Initially, we aren't sure what to make of Wain. His stern and demanding sister Caroline (Andrea Riseborough) is unforgiving of his whims and demands that he find steady work to support the family. An interview with an editor/publisher played by Toby Jones allows us to see what a gifted illustrator Wain is ... and his speed is substantially due to an incredible ability to draw with both hands simultaneously.

Wain's eccentricities include a belief in the electrical currents that drive all life forms. The film doesn't spend much time on this, but it seems to be a cog in his mental illness - deemed schizophrenia (though that's been debated). Wain overcomes his insecurity around his cleft lip and marries Emily Richardson (Claire Foy), the governess to his sisters. For the times, this was quite a scandal, given the differences in age and social standing of Louis and Emily. However, it seems as though she was the only one who understood and encouraged him as an artist.

When tragedy strikes, Wain becomes inspired by their pet cat, Peter. In fact, Peter becomes Wain's muse, and leads to thousands of drawings for publication in newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, and just about every other platform. Olivia Colman provides some lively narration, and Taika Waititi and Nick Cave both have brief cameos. Cumberbatch is a bit over-the-top with his tics in the first half of the film, but his talent is clear as he portrays a man whose mental health deteriorating, and one who must rely on his special skill to find purpose. Wain spent the last 15 years of his life in a hospital, illustrating right up until the end. While Wain's legacy lives on in his work, there is also a message here - embrace your weirdness!

Amazon Studios will release THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN in theaters on October 22nd, 2021 and on Prime Video on November 5th, 2021.

I may be doing the movie a bit of a disservice mentioning that other movie that came out a few years ahead of this. Which also has nothing to do with this movie ... apart from this having cats in it too. Although in this case, the cats are ... well mostly just that: cats! And not people CGIed as cats.

I probably shouldn't be explaining too much, I reckon if you have seen the movie you'll get the joke. And if you don't want to watch it ... well you'll be missing out on an amazing performance by Benedict Cumberbatch! That Dude is really something ... I saw an interview with him a while ago ... he really takes his craft seriously ... and yet always injects fun into the making of the movies he is in. Like skateboarding while being dressed as Dr. Strange.

I can only imagine what he did on the set of this movie. With so many talented other actors surrounding him - many of them being female (and part of the family of the character he portrays). I am not aware of the actual Louis Wain, but he seems to have had a rough life. Not sure how many liberties or how big the liberties are that the movie is taking, but it makes up for a coherent piece of storytelling. And what more can one ask for?

The man who catapulted cats into the mainstream, cataloguing his cataclysmic catastrophes while categorically catering as a catnip for cat lovers, the cateracting from the cateractors will make you caterwaul and purr - that is unless you're a dog or a bird or hypoallergenic to fur.

Louis (loo-eee) Wain was a British artist who lived 1860 to 1939, dying a month before he would have turned 79. He also fashioned himself as a composer and an inventor although those never came to fruition. He had theories about electricity but nothing practical like Tesla.

However he made his reputation with cats, especially drawing cats in all kinds of real and fantasy situations. That is his lasting legacy. Within his family, himself and his five female siblings, were some types of mental illness. All this is prominent in this movie.

Before watching it I knew nothing of Louis Wain and now find him to be a fascinating person. I already knew Benedict Cumberbatch to be one of the better working actors currently and he certainly hits a home run as the colorful and eccentric Wain.

My wife and I watched it at home on Amazon streaming.

My Review - The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. A Prime Amazon Film

My Rating 7/10

This moving characterisation of talented but mentally troubled artist Louis Wain is yet another fine performance from probably the most talented and diverse actor on the planet today Benedict Cumberbatch. Seeing his brilliant portrayal of Phil Burbank the cruel and austere Montana Cattle rancher and then a few days later to see this consummate actor portray a fragile gentle Victorian Englishman surrounded by his eccentric mother and sisters who falls in love with an older woman blissfully marries then loses her quickly to terminal cancer is utterly remarkable to me that it's the same Benedict Cumberbatch.

This is the true story of a man who later in life was confined to mental institutions as he was alleged to have suffered from schizophrenia. According to some psychiatrists, the onset of schizophrenia can be seen in his works, although the schizophrenia diagnosis is in dispute. I would rather have thought his gentle eccentric and talented artistic temperament aided by a disassociation to other people except his wife and the animals he adored was just more on the autism spectrum not schizophrenia?

Louis Waine has been acknowledged as helping to promote the fascination of the domestic cat and their adoration world over by felinophiles of which I'm one that peaked in Victorian England and lasted through the generations till today .

He achieved this through his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphized large-eyed cats although he started drawing dogs until Peter a black and white kitten that he and his wife Emily rescued in their garden from a storm changed both their lives.

I was moved by this story but had a few reservations about the technical aspects of the movie and one piece of miscasting .

As much as I admire Claire Foy I felt her role should have been played by Olivia Colman who is the narrator of the story or an actress like Imelda Staunton.

The character of Emily Richardson is meant to be ten years older than Louis, Claire Foy is actually eight years younger than Benedict Cumberbatch.

Claire Foy is charming as the Governess who comes to live in the mad house that is Louis Waine's home surrounded by loud eccentric women and their even louder children but it's stretching credibility to think that Emily Richardson is ten years older than her husband.

The other problem for me was the 4.3 screen ratio I know it was chosen for artistic reasons and at times this film is as pretty as a Victorian post card but I found it almost squashing the scope of the movie .

The publicity blurb says "Every frame features gorgeous production design by Suzie Davies and elegant costumes by Michael O'Connor, captured in creamily luscious cinematography by Erik Alexander Wilson, though the film is shot in the boxy 4:3 ratio, perhaps to simulate the feeling of a canvas on screen.

Sorry Merchant Ivory achieved the same effect on the wide screen plus wonderful films of artists lives like Turner and Van Gough didn't need 4.3 to stimulate the feeling of a canvas . The other irritating addition to the film on Amazon Prime are the subtitles to explain what is obvious the title of a book on a desk for instance that the viewer can read for themselves? I just found it distracting but I agree it's a very pretty film to watch ,especially the outdoor garden scenes.

Saying all that I'm probably nit picking ,on the whole The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is a fine and very moving film . It yet again puts Benedict Cumberbatch as my favourite actor of the moment . I've seen him play a drug addict in the superb Patrick Melrose, a wartime code breaker in The Imitation Game a monster in Frankenstein an angry cattle rancher in The Power of the Dog ,a sleuth in Sherlock Holmes ,a Sci Fi villain in Dr Strange , a King in The Hollow Crown , a prisoner of war in The Mauritanian and in and on what a range but can he do a musical ? I'm sure he will try .