Watch ‘The Electrical Life of Louis Wain’ via Labia Home Screen*.

If you think about it, Benedict Cumberbatch is kind of like a dramatic, transatlantic and more sophisticated version of Will Ferrell. Living up to his homonym, Ferrell’s audition for Saturday Night Live found him pretending to be a cat. A fully-formed adult, his playful pawing, flopping and meowing convinced Lorne Michaels that the Chad Smith doppelganger was a purrfect match and had the balls (of yarn) to pull off funny. Lorne’s instincts served him right with Ferrell becoming a SNL series regular before spawning a monumental comedy movie career like many of the show’s predecessors. What has any of this got to do with The Electrical Life of Louis Wain? Cats. No, not the gob-smackingly bad adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stray musical… the pyramid-eared furry beasties that saunter about people’s homes as if they own the place (don’t kid yourself, they do!).

To say Louis Wain was a cat lover is an understatement of Titanic proportions. The eccentric artist’s influential career probably has a lot to do with why they’re even considered pets in most countries. If Will Ferrell had played Wain, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain would have been as preposterous, silly and ridiculous as cats themselves. Having the Will Ferrell Effect, casting or substituting the actor into literally any movie will transform it into a comedy. Not surprisingly, Ferrell isn’t in The Electrical Life of Louis Wain because besides serving the undercurrent of irony linked to his surname… this film is aiming for someone more dramatic, transatlantic and sophisticated.

Make no mistake, Benedict Cumberbatch is a charming, funny and witty man as evidenced by his talk show appearances but his fascinatingly elongated face leans in the direction of drama. Constantly being tipped to play genii (it’s a word), possibly an overhang from one of his most famous roles as a modern Sherlock Holmes, the actor dabbles in this headspace whether he’s playing Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, Thomas Edison in The Current War, Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness or that dastardly Smaug in The Hobbit. Having already played Edison in a biographical drama about electricity, it seemed a bit strange and repetitive to see Cumberbatch in yet another “electrical” film.

Thankfully, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is almost the complete antithesis of The Current War apart from sharing a subgenre and electricity as a theme. This quirky, funny and magical biographical romance drama is set in 1881 and takes place over the course of J.M. Barrie’s lifetime, sharing some of Tinkerbell’s fairy dust with an Amelie aptitude. While its exquisite and intricate Peter Pan-inspired production design is reminiscent of Wes Anderson’s chocolate box sentimentality and imagination of Roald Dahl, this is the work of Flowers director Will Sharpe who shares screenwriting credits with Luca and Paddington 2 writer Simon Stephenson.

“I shall call him Bigglesworth.”

The film follows a starry-eyed artist, Louis Wain, whose socially awkward daydream comedy may infrequently conjure up thoughts of Napoleon Dynamite in Victorian England, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is delightfully nutty taking place in an age of electricity and new possibilities. Its tender warmth and wit is compelled by a peculiar romance between its fine co-leads with an awkward Benedict Cumberbatch and heartfelt Claire Foy. Their electricity is palpable as an upstairs-downstairs romance plays out against the old, quaint and snooty values of the time. An unconventional man leading an extraordinary life, this soulmate romance fuels the rest of the story as a frazzled sister, acerbically captured by Andrea Riseborough, and the extended family recall Little Women.

Taika Waititi’s cameo tips the hat to the master of off-the-wall modernisations, something that The Electrical Life of Louis Wain aspires to with its rule-breaking, taking a page from the playful reinterpretation and tonally dexterous Jojo Rabbit. Following a fairly clueless inventor, poly-hobbyist and artist who wasn’t ruled by convention, the delightful “renegade and outcast” behaved much like a feline himself. While parading around in a cat onesie probably would’ve broken the flow too much, the film’s adventurous spirit is present whether injecting swear words, reveling in revisionist diversity or integrating stylistic flashbacks and metaphorical sequences. See-sawing between quaint romance and psychological drama, the balancing act keeps a similar eclectic dynamic and air of unpredictability to Wes Anderson’s world-building. This visual decadence extends to the cinematography with many elegant and lively moments moving from ornate and magically lit interiors to sweeping, living artwork exteriors.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is at its best when Cumberbatch and Foy share the screen, capturing their unlikely romance with faint echoes from Maudie. Dealing with grief and overarching themes relating to loneliness, inspiration and mental health, the chestnut-roasting-over-an-open-fire is met with some touching melancholy. Helped by the same quirk of taking a cat for walk, enchanting visuals and an altogether inventive period drama, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain struggles to find its true north after the halfway mark. Being a self-reflective tale, it works in translating Wain’s state of mind but actually becomes equally alienating and distant in its storytelling as things progress. Adding some authenticity and maddening introspection, it begins to wane into A Beautiful Mind territory and never quite matches the lofty romance, spark and self-assuredness of its first hour.

Still, as wayward as it is… The Electrical Life of Louis Wain maintains enough of its Wes Anderson style, Roald Dahl energy and Taika Waititi whimsy to see it through as navigated by the talents of Benedict Cumberbatch and its passionate filmmakers. Condensing the enigmatic quality of cats, this delightful biographical and historical romance drama has its charms and demonstrates how people got their share of cat memes and videos at the dawn of the 20th Century. While The Electrical Life of Louis Wain gleams brightest when Foy plays opposite Cumberbatch, it’s still a sumptuous feast for the eyes powered by the same sentimentality and cat appreciation that has exalted the rich emotional and spiritual layering of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

The bottom line: Amusing

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Stephen ‘Spling’ Aspeling is 2Oceansvibe’s Resident Film Critic, a “thought leader” (AFDA) and “our generation’s Barry Ronge” (Brothers Streep), who continues to review, write, present, promote and adjudicate film for a host of websites, radio stations, magazines, newspapers, TV shows, festivals and events.

*Watch great cinema online with Labia Home Screen! The Labia Theatre is an iconic independent theatre at 68 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town. They recently celebrated their 70th year and have successfully transitioned to digital projectors. In addition to their 4 cinemas, they’ve now added a “5th” screen by launching their Home Screen pay-per-view video-on-demand streaming service.

Labia Home Screen enables viewers to watch the theatre’s carefully curated content from the comfort of their home from anywhere in South Africa. As they open their box office in what will be a new normal, this convenient streaming service is helping the much-loved cinema continue to provide high quality, award-winning films to their loyal patrons.