Family Portrait
MRS LOWRY & SON I Timothy Spall follows 2014’s Mr. Turner with another painterly biopic…
Lowry absolutely loved his mother,” explains Timothy Spall on the Droylsden set of Mrs Lowry & Son. “He was dedicated to her – but she never missed an opportunity to tell him how much she despised his paintings.” This fractured family dynamic is the centrepiece of director Adrian Noble’s visual portrait of Salford’s famed industrial artist.
When we sit down with Spall, he’s halfway through his penultimate shooting day, having spent weeks living, breathing and painting just like the artist (“I’ve been knocking off a few fauxLowrys in my trailer,” he grins).
It’s a process that included recreating a life with his narcissistic mother Elizabeth, played by Vanessa Redgrave. “This film concentrates on his devotion to her - and her abuse of that love.” On set we find Lowry
splitting his time between rent collecting and being a carer, with little time left over for painting.
Cobbled streets on Manchester’s outskirts have been transformed into 1934 Salford, with a slim and impish Lowry collecting money from his neighbours as they clean up in a metal washbasin after a hard day’s graft. “Lowry’s father left him and his mother with debt, forcing them to move from Victoria Crescent to Pendlebury,” says producer Debbie Gray. “His mother is unhappy with where life has taken her. She thinks her son paints disgusting industrial landscapes.” Spall adds, “It was a thwarted life. His subjects are things she despises living around.”
When a letter from a London art dealer presents an opportunity for recognition, this family life comes under threat. “The quest for Lowry to try to get his mother to understand his work – and her inability to do so – is the heroic centre of this film,” suggests Spall. “He’s trapped in this tension between his love for her and pursuing his artistic passion.”
ETA | 30 AUGUST / MRS LOWRY & SON OPENS NEXT MONTH.