Sailing into his new life, wearing his mother’s burgundy dress, Henry Paget, fifth Marquess of Anglesey (Ynys Môn), "Toppy" (as he is nicknamed), has come to live by his mother’s rule: “always be true to yourself, Henry, it’s the greatest gift you have.” However, tragedy is already near at hand – Toppy coughs into a handkerchief in the first scene, gradually weakening from consumption as the film progresses. His father has only just recognised Toppy as his heir but will not see him, and the latter’s wild, fabulous lifestyle drives him deeper into debt, provoking the disquiet and distaste of polite society.
But undercutting this is the beauty that can only be brought by a soul who inspires similar wonder in others. Toppy beckons the inhabitants of Ynys Môn into his world, particularly his first cousin, Lily (Ruby Stokes), and the shopkeepers who provide him with glittering jewels, the excitement of the nascent photographic art, and all the silks a man could ask for. Presiding over him with gentle, mildly amused benevolence is the butler Gellert (Rupert Everett), named after the dog of Welsh legend who was killed for his loyalty.
Madfabulous is great at showing the importance of the "chosen family" and of alternative spaces needed by queer people who feel that the strictures of convention cannot accommodate them. Paget provides a way for Lily to escape a brutish suitor through marriage, their relationship strained but caring, and the sparkling universe that he creates around him shows others how another life could not only be possible but also offer more than could be conventionally imagined.
As already mentioned, the film is gorgeous – not only the landscape and the country house (Paget’s own, Plas Newydd House), but the costumes, jewellery, and Toppy’s famous "butterfly" dance. Truly a feast for the eyes.
The only way in which Madfabulous falls a little flat is in terms of its momentum. Toppy emerges in a burst of riotous colour and possibility, stumbles repeatedly, and crashes into an uplifting ending that feels a little contrived. Without ruining the plot, although it still (depressingly) feels refreshing when a queer story doesn’t end awfully, the conclusion to the film felt a bit insincere and rushed, especially when we all know that an advanced consumptive like Toppy could never recover in this period (the early 1900s). However, the screenplay (written by Celyn Jones’ sister, Lisa Baker), is well written in other respects, and is witty and funny enough to carry a somewhat patchy plot. Each of the characters is also wonderfully played, which also helps.
Madfabulous isn’t particularly true to Paget’s own life (most noticeably, his mother is shown in recent flashbacks but in reality died when he was a very small child) but does give its audience welcome knowledge of a colourful, fascinating man whose sexuality and place in the world were ambiguous, at a time when ambiguity was decidedly socially unacceptable. Whilst it might not set the world on fire, Madfablous offers a welcome (if at times naïve) vision of what our lives could be if we accepted and celebrated the strange and different.
