The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

A film about the life of an artist. Louis Wain is talented and scattered. His father is dead, five sisters and his mother depend on him, he has to earn, and he draws for the newspapers. Emily comes to the house as a governess. A relationship begins; she is ten years older than him and the family does not take the marriage well. They find a cat. Wain starts drawing it. Until then the cat was not a loved animal in England; it was a creature that lived outside and caught mice. Wain's drawings change that: he draws cats like people, dresses them, gives them tea, and the pictures are a great success in the papers. The second half is about illness. Wain's mental state breaks down, the family suffers losses and the money is gone; because he never thought about copyright, he earns nothing from his own drawings. What the narrative is interested in is not art but perception: the film carries Wain's idea of the world as a place full of electricity into the image, and the shape of the screen changes inside the film. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Wain and Claire Foy plays Emily. Andrea Riseborough and Toby Jones are in the cast. Will Sharpe directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes biographical films and productions that play visually. Who it is not for: anyone looking for restraint in how illness is handled; the film at times makes a mental collapse beautiful.