CATS ENTER POPULAR CULTURE

CUMBERBATCH TRANSFORMS LIKE YOU NEVER SEEN BEFORE

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Illustrator Louis Wain may have made cats popular by animating them, but Benedict Cumberbatch transforms himself into a live action metaphysical illustration of Louis Wain in the biopic The Electrical Life of Louis  Wain (2021).

Cumberbatch shows how the eccentric Wain survived and eventually became popular before the turn of the last century.

Life is difficult during the Victorian Era. And so the family must stay together to support each other. After his father dies, Wain becomes responsible for his mother and five sisters all living together in the family home.

Initially, Wain works as an illustrator for a London newspaper while also drawing portraits of household pets.

Claire Foy plays the governess, Emily, hired to tutor the younger sisters while Wain seeks full-time employment to support the family.

Olivia Colman provides a voice over narration.

And all things considered, director Will Sharpe recreates the atmosphere and tone of an eccentric family surviving in the Victorian Era.

Cumberbatch shows how Wain was different and at times impossible in social settings, but he retained the respect of the public because he had a unique perception that enabled him to create original and detailed illustrations.

The governess was herself unique and eccentric enough to fall in love and marry Wain, but the social class system was very much in play with the union of members of upper and lower classes as lovers causing the entire family to become social outcast. 

Wain’s sisters were not able to find lovers and marry, as a result. Or so the story goes.

Andrea Riseborough shows how Wain’s sister Caroline had a bit of eccentricity as well, but she knew enough not to do something that would give people reason to gossip about her.

Wain marshals on, however, and finds a niche for his talent after his opportunities become limited when photographs begin to replace illustrations in newspapers.

Toby Jones plays the newspaper employer who encourages Wain after recognizing talent when he sees talent. Sir William Ingram continues to support Wain outside of the realm of the newspaper until the illustrator develops his love of cats a bit further.

Cumberbatch creates a unique character by metaphysically transforming into Wain to such an extent as to almost be unrecognizable as Cumberbatch the actor. Cumberbatch shows how the illustrator’s eccentricities increasingly become outward signs of internalized mental health issues.

Wain believed that electricity ran through cats, and Cumberbatch acts as though Wain was also powered by an irregular current that interrupted his perceptions of reality.

Director Sharpe does a good job organizing the narrative between a wraparound of Wain in old age. Sharpe every so often inserts a bit of psychodrama to reveal the inner workings of a genius. A metaphysical montage sequence in the opening series of scenes foreshadows this incremental approach to revealing the personality behind the illustrations of cats.

Sharpe captures the natural light of a time before the light bulb and electricity in every London household, and then utilizes stimulating colours on the costumes and the buildings on set to keep the scenes visually stimulating.

The early images of rain on the funeral procession, captured through a slowed down camera, only partially bear out during the remainder of the film, though.

The film creates an oddball tone with many interesting characters all fitting in around the ‘fixation of cats theme’ – such as cats on trains, cats in crates, cats hiding in wardrobes and cats in the Christmas edition of the London newspaper.

The Electrical Life of Louis  Wain is streaming on Amazon Prime.