Woman in Gold
Grade: B
Director: Simon Curtis
Screenplay: Alexi Kaye Campbell from E. Randol Shoenberg and Maria Altman life story.
Cast: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 109 min.
by John DeSando
"Because people forget, you see. And then, of course, there's justice." Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren)
Keeping true to the memory of Holocaust victims and seeking the rightful return of art stolen are the driving forces of the pleasant Woman in Gold. The titular Klimt painting, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, formerly hanging in the Belvedere Palace in Vienna, is the object of Maria Altmann’s (Mirren) legal case against Austria based on her family’s ownership and the Nazi’s theft. The film is part low-key thriller and part modest travelogue (Vienna is now firmly on my bucket list), a smarter version of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel franchise, if you will.
As in the recent biopic, Mr. Turner, about the great British landscape artist, this film also gets its energy from a painter’s world-class vibe. Whereas the Turner biopic, as interpreted brilliantly by Mike Leigh, gives insight into the painter, Woman in Gold is more interested in the legal work that leads to a visit to the Supreme Court and back to Austria.
Director Simon Curtis relies frequently on emotional music and the cool Maria to give a sense of the grand painting frequently referred to as “the Mona Lisa of Austria.” A few expressive lines such as the opener to this essay are far too few given that a world-class painting should inspire many impressions and impassioned descriptions and interpretations. Maria sees mainly her Aunt while the world can see an entire era and country in her Aunt’s necklace alone: "People see a masterpiece by one of Austria's finest artists," Maria says of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, "but I see my aunt."
Granted the true-life story as it tumbles from the painting is interesting enough, but the figurative possibilities are never explored. Yet the rewards are still there including Mirren’s classy, relatively restrained performance and Ryan Reynolds’ nerdy attorney, Randol Schoenberg (grandson of Arnold). Together they present a formidable team opposing high-priced attorneys and an Austrian museum. Hooray for justice.
"I have to do what I can to keep these memories alive.” Maria
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
