Mr Burton review – elevated by a dynamic… | Little White Lies

Mr Bur­ton review – ele­vat­ed by a dynam­ic performance

04 Apr 2025 / Released: 04 Apr 2025

Words by Lucy Peters

Directed by Marc Evans

Starring Harry Lawtey, Lesley Manville, and Toby Jones

A young man wearing a white shirt and braces, reading a book while standing on a beach.
A young man wearing a white shirt and braces, reading a book while standing on a beach.
4

Anticipation.

Any dedication to one of cinema’s finest players is welcomed viewing!

3

Enjoyment.

At times a little one-dimensional but elevated by Jones and Lawtey’s heartfelt performances.

3

In Retrospect.

A fascinating examination of Burton’s early life, but perhaps a less entertaining chapter than his tumultuous film-star trajectory.

A gen­tle, fic­tion­alised for­ay into stage and screen leg­end Richard Burton’s Welsh childhood.

On the cen­te­nary of actor Richard Burton’s birth, Marc Evans’ biopic Mr Bur­ton pro­vides an engag­ing retelling of the stage and screen actor’s Welsh upbring­ing. It also cap­tures the trans­for­ma­tive relo­ca­tion from his min­ing com­mu­ni­ty roots to Hol­ly­wood Hills and the begin­ning of a life of fame, excess and glamour. 

At times it’s a lit­tle slow-burn, but sit­u­ates us in a world that’s apt­ly hued with gloomy inte­ri­ors and gold­en lamp­light, simul­ta­ne­ous­ly strad­dling the dis­parate words in which he oper­at­ed. Toby Jones anchors the film as kind­ly teacher Philip Bur­ton, who takes the bur­geon­ing actor under his wing, pro­vid­ing Richard (nice­ly played by Har­ry Lawtey) with a the­atri­cal education. 

As allud­ed to in the title, we’re tak­en down an inti­mate jour­ney of men­tor and stu­dent, father and son, yet the nar­ra­tive mean­ders through the thespian’s for­ma­tive chap­ters at an occa­sion­al­ly way­ward and unhur­ried pace. Lawtey deliv­ers a dynam­ic per­for­mance con­sid­er­ing the big boots of his sub­ject, although the film suf­fers the expect­ed issue of cast­ing any actor to rep­re­sent the sin­gu­lar and icon­ic star. 

How­ev­er, it offers a sin­cere rep­re­sen­ta­tion of region­al­i­ty, framed by rugged Welsh land­scapes and also con­sid­ers the his­toric (and ongo­ing) cen­sor­ship of Celtic lan­guage and accents. It’s a bit­ter­sweet sto­ry, fore­shad­owed by his descent into alco­holism, yet the film man­ages to retain a puri­ty of heart that will like­ly move any Bur­ton fan.

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