The Woman In Gold dir. Simon Curtis, USA, 2015
Helen Mirren stars as Maria Altmann, an Austrian Jewess living in LA, who discovers after the recent death of her sister, that there is a chance of some restitution from the Austrian government for the plunder of her family's possessions by the Nazis in the 1930's. She enslists the help of the laywer son of one of her oldest friends, Randol Schoenberg (grandson to the great Austrian composer), to try her luck in recovering some of the beloved artworks collected by her parents and uncle, part of Vienna's elite during the Wiemar Republic, who had supported and patronised some of the great artists, musicians, and thinkers of the period. Together, Maria and Randol (Ryan Reynolds), take on the unyielding weight of the Austrian government in what looks like a vain attempt to restore what was stolen to the rightful owner.
Based on a true story, the film opens with a lush depiction of the artist Gustav Klimt painting a portrait of Maria's beloved aunt Adele, a painting which became known as The Woman in Gold after the Nazi's appropriated it and renamed it, probably to distance it from its origins as a portrait of a Jewish beauty, (Adele Bloch-Bauer I). The film is full of lush and lavish touches in the remembrances of Maria's life as an adored child and young woman, growing up in a privileged and blossoming world of art, music, and all that is cultured and beautiful. In stark contrast, the arrival of the Nazis and the beginnings of their persecution of the family's Jewish neighbours is a harsh intrusion into their world.
Helen Mirren delivers a fine performance as modern-day Maria, and Ryan Reynolds as the stoic and persevering Randol is very fine as well. Randol is a man who is disconnected from his Viennese heritage, but comes to discover it and feel it deeply. Maria is a woman haunted by the past, by her choices, and the losses of a way of life that seems magical in her remembering of it.
Tatiana Maslany as the young Maria very palpably conveys to the viewer the fear, the guilt, and the dreadul loss of a young woman torn from all she knows. Daniel Bruhl appears as a young Viennese journalist seeking to atone for his father's Nazi past, and Elizabeth McGovern in a minor role as a judge.
All together, the cast is excellent and story is a moving and well told one.
4 stars
Helen Mirren stars as Maria Altmann, an Austrian Jewess living in LA, who discovers after the recent death of her sister, that there is a chance of some restitution from the Austrian government for the plunder of her family's possessions by the Nazis in the 1930's. She enslists the help of the laywer son of one of her oldest friends, Randol Schoenberg (grandson to the great Austrian composer), to try her luck in recovering some of the beloved artworks collected by her parents and uncle, part of Vienna's elite during the Wiemar Republic, who had supported and patronised some of the great artists, musicians, and thinkers of the period. Together, Maria and Randol (Ryan Reynolds), take on the unyielding weight of the Austrian government in what looks like a vain attempt to restore what was stolen to the rightful owner.
Based on a true story, the film opens with a lush depiction of the artist Gustav Klimt painting a portrait of Maria's beloved aunt Adele, a painting which became known as The Woman in Gold after the Nazi's appropriated it and renamed it, probably to distance it from its origins as a portrait of a Jewish beauty, (Adele Bloch-Bauer I). The film is full of lush and lavish touches in the remembrances of Maria's life as an adored child and young woman, growing up in a privileged and blossoming world of art, music, and all that is cultured and beautiful. In stark contrast, the arrival of the Nazis and the beginnings of their persecution of the family's Jewish neighbours is a harsh intrusion into their world.
Helen Mirren delivers a fine performance as modern-day Maria, and Ryan Reynolds as the stoic and persevering Randol is very fine as well. Randol is a man who is disconnected from his Viennese heritage, but comes to discover it and feel it deeply. Maria is a woman haunted by the past, by her choices, and the losses of a way of life that seems magical in her remembering of it.
Tatiana Maslany as the young Maria very palpably conveys to the viewer the fear, the guilt, and the dreadul loss of a young woman torn from all she knows. Daniel Bruhl appears as a young Viennese journalist seeking to atone for his father's Nazi past, and Elizabeth McGovern in a minor role as a judge.
All together, the cast is excellent and story is a moving and well told one.
4 stars