Varietycalled Mr Turner "a natural awards contender", while The Independent predicted its starTimothy Spall would "surely be among the front runners for the festival's best actor award".
"Come awards time, expect Mr Turner to be harrumphing his way to the stage," Total Film's Jamie Graham said.
The film, Leigh's first feature in four years, received its gala premiere on Thursday.
The director's two-and-a-half hour opus, which dramatises episodes from Turner's life in 19th Century London and Margate, is his first period biopic since 1999's Topsy-Turvy, about Gilbert and Sullivan.
However Leigh said the process of making it was "no different" than making his fictional dramas Naked, Life is Sweet and Secrets and Lies.
"You can read all the books in world and do research for a million years, but it doesn't make things happen in front of the camera," the 71-year-old told reporters.
"You still have to create a characterisation and breathe flesh and blood into it. Turner is obviously a great artist, one of the great painters of all time, anywhere.
"I felt there was scope for a fascinating film because of the tension between this very mortal - and in some ways flawed and inspired - individual and his epic work."
Spall, one of Leigh's regular collaborators, said he was ideally cast as Turner because "he was a funny-looking, fat little man and so am I".
"Genius is not always in the most romantic of packages," the actor continued. "Most geniuses are strange and are often odd-looking sociopaths."
He said Turner was "slightly brutish - a man with love in his heart but not sure where to put it".
In addition to his paintings, the film deals with Turner's personal life and his relationships with women - among them his housekeeper, a Margate widow and two daughters he declines to acknowledge.
The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said Mr Turner - one of 18 titles in contention for this year's Palme d'Or award - represented "another triumph"for Leigh and Spall.
"Every scene... is expertly managed; every comic line and funny moment adroitly presented and every performance given with intelligence and love," he said in his five-star review.
In his own five-star rave, The Telegraph's Robbie Collin said Spall "gives what's probably the finest performance in his career".
Spall, 57, also drew praisefrom Screen International's Jonathan Romney, who said he was "magnificent" in a film that "may be the most entertaining art biopic yet made".
The premiere of Leigh's film coincides with the issue of a set of Royal Mail stamps in which Secrets and Lies features alongside nine other British titles.
The director said it was "great" his earlier film had made it onto a stamp - albeit one with a value of ￡1.28, which meant he was unlikely to use it himself.
The 67th Cannes Film Festival continues until 25 May.
据英国广播公司（BBC）报道，由迈克·李（Mike Leigh）执导，根据英国画家约瑟夫·玛罗德·威廉·透纳（Joseph Mallord William Turner）一生改编的传记故事《透纳先生》在戛纳电影节上好评如潮，一些影评人预测《透纳先生》（Mr Turner）将会是夺奖大热门。
透纳先生的扮演者蒂莫西·斯波（Timothy Spall）被媒体称为“本届电影节夺奖呼声最高的明星”，《独立报》更大胆预测“影帝非蒂莫西·斯波莫属”。
《完全电影》杂志（Total Film）的杰米·格拉哈姆（Jamie Graham）说：“让我们拭目以待。看看到时候蒂莫西·斯波会不会也像片中的透纳一样，一路咳嗽着上台领奖。”
5月15日，戛纳电影节展映了《透纳先生》，这是导演迈克·李四年来首部人物传记片。
这部两个半小时的影片再现了19世纪浪漫主义画家透纳在伦敦与马尔盖特（Margate）度过的一生，也是该片导演继1999年《酣歌畅戏》（Topsy-Turvy）之后拍摄的首部名人传记片。《酣歌畅戏》讲述的是英国作词家吉尔伯特（Gilbert）和作曲家萨利文（Sullivan）的故事。
不过，迈克·李表示整个拍摄过程和先前纯属虚构的《裸露》（Naked）、《生活多美好》（Life Is Sweet）、《秘密与谎言》（Secrets And Lies）等影片没有什么不同。
71岁高龄的迈克·李对记者说：“纵使你读遍有关透纳先生的书籍，投入大量时间做调研，也不一定就能在摄影机前把透纳演‘活’”。
“你得竭尽全力刻画人物性格，塑造出鲜活饱满的人物形象。透纳无疑是史上最杰出的画家之一。”
“在这位瑕不掩瑜的画家与其史诗般的作品之间存在着张力，所以我认为，距离一部精彩的电影，我们还有提升的余地。”
作为导演迈克·李的御用主演，蒂莫西·斯波（Timothy Spall）表示自己完全是本色出演，因为透纳和他一样是个长相滑稽，身材肥胖的小个子男人。”
蒂莫西·斯波补充说到：“天才往往没有华丽光鲜的外表，而是隐藏在其貌不扬、性情古怪的人物内心之中。”
在蒂莫西·斯波眼里，透纳是一个感情稍显粗暴，心里有爱却不知如何表达的男人。
除了画作，该片也重现了透纳的私人生活和与他有交集的女人，包括他的女管家，一位马尔盖特的寡妇，以及两个他拒绝承认的女儿。
《卫报》知名影评人彼得·布拉德肖（Peter Bradshaw）表示，《透纳先生》是本届戛纳电影节金棕榈奖的有力竞争者，象征着导演迈克·李与主演蒂莫西·斯波的又一次胜利。
彼得·布拉德肖在影评中提到：“大家看到的每个场景都经过悉心布置；每串台词每个笑点每段情节无不凝聚着工作人员满满的智慧与爱。”
《电讯报》（The Telegraph）影评家罗比·科林（Robbie Collin）更是不惜溢美之词，称赞斯波“奉献了毕生最完美的演技。”
57岁的斯波在“迄今为止最优秀的传记片”中展现出的“杰出”演技也得到《国际银幕》（Screen International)）著名影评人乔纳森·罗姆尼（Jonathan Romney）的褒奖。
《透纳先生》的首映礼恰逢英国皇家邮政发行印有《秘密与谎言》剧照的系列邮票。
早期创作的影片题材能够印在邮票上，这令导演迈克·李感觉很棒。不过该系列邮票每张价值1.28英镑，迈克·李自己也不太可能用到。
第67届戛纳电影节将于5月25日落幕。
