#Benedict Cumberbatch Paints Cats In This Surprisingly Melancholy Biopic [TIFF 2021]

Louis Wain lives with his elderly mother and his six sisters. As the story begins, his father has died, making Louis, the only surviving male, the sole breadwinner of the family. And that’s a problem because Louis has no head for money. His head is too cluttered with other things; experiments, philosophies, flights of fancy, call them what you will. Most of all, he’s obsessed with electricity. According to Louis, electricity is the solution to practically anything. Electricity runs through everything, and Louis believes that if we can all just harness it correctly, anything would be possible.

But on top of all that, Louis can draw. And draw fast – we see him sketching beautiful drawings in seconds by using two pencils at once. And while Louis can draw humans, he prefers to sketch animals. Sometimes, this gets him in trouble – like when he climbs into a bull ring to get a better look at a “one-and-a-half ton bull” he intended to sketch. The art gets him a steady job at “The Illustrated London News,” and the Wain family is able to hire a governess to take care of the younger Wain girls.

The governess is Emily Richardson (Claire Foy), who is, “by the standards of the day, positively geriatric” according to the narrator. She’s a loner, and she’s just as weird and awkward as Louis. A love affair seems to be their destiny, and sure enough, the two fall into each other’s arms – much to the chagrin of everyone else. After all, Louis is a gentleman, and Emily is part of the servant class. That simply won’t do in polite society, but neither Louis nor Emily care.

These early moments, where the two weird lovebirds find each other, are among the sweetest. Foy brings a wonderful appeal to her part, playing Emily as smart and sharp and wholly herself, and she and Cumberbatch have a nice rapport with one another. But the mirth won’t last long, because just as the two have married and settled into their new life together, Emily is diagnosed with breast cancer. Louis thinks his beloved electricity might save her, but doctors think otherwise. Emily’s days are numbered, and the couple is determined to make them count. Along the way, they add a new addition to their family: a kitten they find in their garden. The animal is soon named Peter, and when Louis tells friends that he and his wife have a cat for a pet, they think he’s out of his mind. Maybe he is.