The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is a 2021 biopic about Louis Wain, a British artist known for his drawings and paintings of cats. It was directed by Will Sharpe and produced by Amazon Studios.
In Victorian London, eccentric artist Louis Wain (Benedict Cumberbatch) becomes the primary breadwinner for his family, comprised of his widowed mother and five sisters. He works as a staff illustrator for a London newspaper under the guidance of Sir William Ingram (Toby Jones). To the dismay of his proper sister Caroline (Andrea Riseborough), Louis marries his sisters' governess Emily Richardson (Claire Foy), which causes a scandal among high society.
Louis and Emily adopt a kitten, Peter, and treat him as a pet, contrary to how cats were treated as the time. As Emily succumbs to breast cancer, Louis begins selling artwork of cats inspired by Peter. Although his art becomes wildly popular and keeping cats as pets skyrockets across Europe, debt and mental illness continue to plague Louis for the rest of his life.
The film was released on Prime Video on November 5, 2021.
Tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: The film ends with Louis losing his mother, two of his sisters, and his patron. The family lives in Perpetual Poverty, and Louis never gets the fortune he so desired. However, fans of his are able to raise funds to transfer him to a good home where he spends his last years in peace, and his legacy of weird art and perceptions of cats lives on.
- The Cameo: Nick Cave pops by for a minute as H. G. Wells, who delivers an impassioned radio broadcast on behalf of Louis.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Dan Rider appears at the beginning of the film, receiving a quick sketch of his sister's Pomeranian from Louis on a train. He meets Louis by chance once again decades later near the end of the film, and is shocked to find Louis decaying away in a podunk mental hospital. Mr. Rider then spearheads a campaign to transfer Louis to a better home, where he spends his last years in peace.
- Cute Kitten: Invoked. Louis and Emily adopt an adorable kitten, and Louis's art based on said cat become incredibly popular. Though the notion of cats as pets had already existed, it became more popular after his art became widespread. In part thanks to Louis, people now see cats as cute housepets rather than as vermin-catchers.
- Eccentric Artist: Louis is a very popular illustrator, but has always been...off. He's completely unconcerned with money, has a number of weird hobbies, is rather awkward and easily manipulated, and prone to ranting about electricity in the world. Tellingly he kept a pet cat, at the time an unconventional choice since they were mostly seen as mouse-hunters.
- Lemony Narrator: The film's disembodied narrator (voiced by Olivia Colman) will make the occasional cheeky comment, such as saying the streets of Victorian London smell like shit, or teasing the viewer for thinking Louis' fortunes are about to improve.
- Mad Artist: Louis graduates to this from Eccentric Artist in his later years. For example, when he arrives in America, the staff tells him his artwork is very popular...but when giving a speech about it, Louis imagines everybody in the audience as anthropomorphic cats and starts raving about negative electricity. He has a mental breakdown after the deaths of several loved ones and is eventually committed.
- Money Dumb: Louis is absolutely terrible with money. Despite the widespread popularity of his art, he did not think to copyright any of it and thus does not make anything from reproductions. What money he does get is spent on frivolous purchases, and his unmarried sisters fall deeper into debt.
- Perpetual Poverty: The family actually starts out all right, but because Louis is Money Dumb and none of his sisters could find husbands, the Wains' fortunes only get progressively worse throughout the film, and they are perpetually unable to pay off their debts.
- Promotion to Parent: Caroline, the eldest Wain sister, becomes the maternal figure because their mother is rather bohemian and unconcerned with proper upbringing.
- The Ophelia: Louis' youngest sister Marie is a lovely girl who develops schizophrenia and is locked away in an asylum.
- Starving Artist: Due to a string of bad financial decisions, including not copyrighting his art, illustrator Louis Wain descends further into poverty as he gets older. He is only kept from passing away in a dinky mental hospital by pure chance.
- Uptown Girl: That a respectable gentleman like Louis would marry his sister's governess is completely scandalous to society.
