The very model of a modern magnum opus

Topsy-Turvy (12) Selected cinemas

Improvisation, it has been assumed, is best suited to contemporary subjects, to excavating the minutiae of non-heroic lives. With Topsy-Turvy, his delightful, richly-detailed portrait of the kings of Victorian light opera, W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, Mike Leigh proves that it ain't necessarily so.

Leigh's method of making films, starting without a script and developing the characters and plotlines through a lengthy, rigorous process of research, debate and rehearsal, is well known. Here, he shows how well it can be applied to a recreation of the world of London theatre in the 1880s. The result is a film which offers a refreshingly lively approach to that often dreary form, the costume drama.

Topsy-Turvy is full of characters who actually existed, but it's not a biopic in the usually understood sense. Spanning just a few fraught months in the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan, following the commercial failure of Princess Ida, it charts the acrimonious relationship between the two men - the irascible Gilbert, eager to move on to the next project, and the languid Sullivan, who longs to return to serious composition but ends up spending most of his time in the fleshpots of Paris or the arms of his American mistress. Taken by his wife to a Japanese exhibition in London, Gilbert gets the inspiration for The Mikado, and the two set to work on what will become their most successful opera.

These are the bare bones of the story, but the joy of Topsy-Turvy, lies in the detail - the many brilliantly-observed vignettes and the sympathy and bittersweet humour with the large gallery of characters is observed. As a quintessential actors' director, it's not surprising that Leigh's portrayal of the process of casting, rehearsal and production is so acute, but he is brilliantly served by his performers - Timothy Spall,, Martin Savage and Kevin McKidd are hilarious and affecting in their roles as leading players in the D'Oyly Carte Company, while Shirley Henderson memorably portrays alcoholic actress Leonora Braham.

All these characters, with their frailties, foibles, quirks and affectations, are recognisably related to the suburban dreamers and wistful losers of Life is Sweet, Secrets and Lies and other Leigh films. The triumph of Topsy-Turvy is that the same forensic portraiture works so well in a period film. The Victorian world depicted here is not the ossified set of cliches of so many nostalgia-driven heritage movies - it's modern, hectic, messy and confused, much like ours, in fact.

There are so many good performances and fine vignettes here that it almost becomes overwhelming, and it could be argued that the film could have done with some judicious trimming - at 165 minutes it's Leigh's longest to date. But the sprawling canvas ultimately justifies the expansive approach of a film designed to be savoured at length and in all its glorious detail.

One More Kiss (members and guests only) IFC, Dublin

Filmed guerrilla-style, using available light and a minuscule crew, on the north-east coast of England, Vadim Jean's tragic romance tells the story of a young woman (Valerie Edmonds) who returns home from New York, suffering from terminal cancer, to spend the last days of her life with the people she has loved; her gruff, introverted father (James Cosmo) and the boyfriend she left behind (Gerry Butler). Her arrival and announcement bring turmoil into the lives of both men: Cosmo has spent the last seven years sitting in his armchair, staring at the sea, but now he's forced to confront his own past relationships; Butler is (apparently) happily married, and his wife (Valerie Gogan) resents this apparition from the past.

Jean has all the ingredients here for a Love Story-style tearjerker, but his intentions in One More Kiss are oddly unclear. At times the film lapses into sheer schmaltz - particularly in the scenes between Edmonds and Butler - while at others it appears to be trying to make some serious, clear-minded points about terminal illness and bereavement. Finally, it's caught between too many stools to make much of an impact, although the widescreen cinematography throws up some striking images of this little-seen part of the British landscape.

The Bachelor (15) General release

Vadim Jean's first film was the 1992 comedy, Leon the Pig Farmer, co-directed with fellow-Brit Gary Sinyor, whose own new film is also released today. The contrast between the two could hardly be greater: where One More Kiss is flawed but heartfelt, The Bachelor is mediocre and cynical, just another piece of flabby product from the romantic comedy treadmill.

Chris O'Donnell is the young man of the title, scared of commitment, who discovers that must marry within 24 hours if he is to inherit $100 million from his recently deceased grandfather. Having just had his proposal of marriage turned down by the girl he loves (Renee Zellweger), he now has to find himself another bride. This deeply unfunny "comedy" follows his erratic progress towards an inevitable and predictable conclusion, and its underwhelming climax (the film's main selling point), a lengthy sequence in which he is chased through the streets of San Francisco by a thousand wannabe brides, dressed in white.