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Topsy-Turvy

1999 · 160 min

A richly detailed, leisurely immersion into Victorian theatre life, blending backstage bustle with quiet creative struggle.

Directed by
Mike Leigh
Genres
Drama, Music, Comedy
Tagline
Gilbert & Sullivan & So Much More
Overview
For nearly a decade, Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations have delighted the English people. But in 1884, as a London heat wave cuts into the theater trade, their latest work, "Princess Ida", receives lukewarm press. In an effort to reconcile their creative differences and drawing inspiration from Japanese culture, they went on to create the hit opera "The Mikado", one of the duo's greatest successes.

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Directed by
Mike Leigh
Genres
Drama, Music, Comedy
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • warmstrength 2 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • satiricalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • art
  • work
  • friendship
  • identity
  • class
Places
  • big city
  • workplace
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • true story
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror0
Humour5
Realism9
Romance2
Tension4
Darkness3
Complexity7
Emotional weight6

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Cast

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Details

Genres
drama, music, comedy, history
Directed by
Mike Leigh
Written by
Mike Leigh
Starring
Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Ron Cook, Wendy Nottingham, Kevin McKidd, Shirley Henderson
Music
Carl Davis
Cinematography
Dick Pope
Runtime
160 min
Country
United Kingdom, United States of America
Languages
Japanese, French, English

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