Timothy Spall gives an award-winning performance in Mike Leigh’s luminous drama about the great if eccentric landscape painter J.M.W. Turner. A popular and anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, Turner visited brothels, stayed with the country aristocracy, and had himself strapped to the mast of a ship so he could paint a snowstorm.

“If there is one film you should see on the largest screen possible this year, it is Mr Turner, which is not merely the portrait of an artist but a full-frontal, joyous bellyflop into the seascapes of his paintings.” The Times *****