Woman in Gold (B+ or 3/4 stars)
Helen Mirren. A historical biopic. No, this isn't 'The Queen'. This is 'Woman in Gold' (directed by Simon Curtis, My Week with Marilyn). It may not be as superb as 2006's 'The Queen' -- but it's pretty darn great, anyway. 'WiG' tells the story of Holocaust survivor Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), who in 1998 decided to file a restitution case for art that hung in her wealthy family's beautiful Vienna apartment until the Nazis ruthlessly stole it. With the help of her young, relatively inexperienced attorney, Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds), the son of a family friend (& grandson of Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg), Maria sues the Austrian government to return 5 particular paintings, mainly Gustav Klimt's famous Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (or "Woman in Gold") which was, in actuality, a portrait of Maria's beloved aunt Adele.
Part courtroom drama/part historical melodrama, this film cuts btwn. Maria & Randy's legal campaign/her return to the country of her birth, and with Maria's poignant memories/flashbacks - both wonderful & horrifying - of her cherished (if also doomed) family, her beautiful home, & Austria before Hitler's Nazis forever changed it. The flashbacks provide a powerful interruption to the legal issues that Maria & Randy face in 1998 scenes. Maria's memories shift & sway btwn. her childhood in the 1920s & her glorious wedding reception 1 yr. before the major outbreak of Nazism, anti-Semitism, & deportations to her lifelong home (eventually in California).
As a young married woman, Maria is superbly played by Tatiana Maslany (popular in the hit TV show, Orphan Black). Maslany & Max Irons (Jeremy Irons’ dashing son), who plays Maria's opera singer husband, are SO compelling as newlyweds facing the unfathomable that you long to see them again as soon as the narrative shifts back to Mirren & Reynolds. That's not to say Mirren or Reynolds aren't good. She's fantastic in all her scenes and Reynolds (known for lackluster efforts in inferior movies) is surprisingly good. It's just that the storyline dealing with elder Maria & her rookie attorney's lawsuit ever-so-slightly pales to the compelling 1920/30s segments.
Like her fellow British thespians Maggie Smith & Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren is one of the classiest, remarkable actresses living today. Here, she plays Maria Altmann with the long-suffering dignity & grace you'd expect of a woman who had it all (luxurious existence, loving family, security), but lost it all after the Nazis forced her & her husband to abandon Vienna. It's simply heartbreaking to watch; but riveting, too. Mirren gives Maria a real refinement, some subtle wit, some humor, but she really brings it home in an emotional scene near the end where she finally lets it all go. Excellent performance. Ryan Reynolds, as I mentioned above, impressed me; bringing a mixture of likeability & real earnestness.
The rest of the cast is peppered with small delightful surprises: Daniel Bruhl (so good in Rush), as a Viennese journalist who has his reasons for wanting to help Maria, Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora from Downton Abbey & the director's wife) as a sympathetic judge, Katie Holmes as Reynolds wife, Jonathan Pryce as a Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, & Charles Dance as Randy's imperious boss.
Thematically, 'Woman in Gold' brings insight to the alarming tenacity with which Austria fought against returning stolen art to Jewish exiles. It's as if Austria (birthplace of Hitler, and wanting to distance itself from Nazi atrocities) they thought that the more time that passed btwn. The Holocaust and the present would heal all old wounds ... not so. Wow. I just really enjoyed & admired this film. It looks great (slick cinematography, expertise production values). The performances are warm & inviting. And when it finished, I loved knowing that I just watched - if not a groundbreaking film - a very solid, assured, & historically entertaining motion picture.
Part courtroom drama/part historical melodrama, this film cuts btwn. Maria & Randy's legal campaign/her return to the country of her birth, and with Maria's poignant memories/flashbacks - both wonderful & horrifying - of her cherished (if also doomed) family, her beautiful home, & Austria before Hitler's Nazis forever changed it. The flashbacks provide a powerful interruption to the legal issues that Maria & Randy face in 1998 scenes. Maria's memories shift & sway btwn. her childhood in the 1920s & her glorious wedding reception 1 yr. before the major outbreak of Nazism, anti-Semitism, & deportations to her lifelong home (eventually in California).
As a young married woman, Maria is superbly played by Tatiana Maslany (popular in the hit TV show, Orphan Black). Maslany & Max Irons (Jeremy Irons’ dashing son), who plays Maria's opera singer husband, are SO compelling as newlyweds facing the unfathomable that you long to see them again as soon as the narrative shifts back to Mirren & Reynolds. That's not to say Mirren or Reynolds aren't good. She's fantastic in all her scenes and Reynolds (known for lackluster efforts in inferior movies) is surprisingly good. It's just that the storyline dealing with elder Maria & her rookie attorney's lawsuit ever-so-slightly pales to the compelling 1920/30s segments.
Like her fellow British thespians Maggie Smith & Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren is one of the classiest, remarkable actresses living today. Here, she plays Maria Altmann with the long-suffering dignity & grace you'd expect of a woman who had it all (luxurious existence, loving family, security), but lost it all after the Nazis forced her & her husband to abandon Vienna. It's simply heartbreaking to watch; but riveting, too. Mirren gives Maria a real refinement, some subtle wit, some humor, but she really brings it home in an emotional scene near the end where she finally lets it all go. Excellent performance. Ryan Reynolds, as I mentioned above, impressed me; bringing a mixture of likeability & real earnestness.
The rest of the cast is peppered with small delightful surprises: Daniel Bruhl (so good in Rush), as a Viennese journalist who has his reasons for wanting to help Maria, Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora from Downton Abbey & the director's wife) as a sympathetic judge, Katie Holmes as Reynolds wife, Jonathan Pryce as a Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, & Charles Dance as Randy's imperious boss.
Thematically, 'Woman in Gold' brings insight to the alarming tenacity with which Austria fought against returning stolen art to Jewish exiles. It's as if Austria (birthplace of Hitler, and wanting to distance itself from Nazi atrocities) they thought that the more time that passed btwn. The Holocaust and the present would heal all old wounds ... not so. Wow. I just really enjoyed & admired this film. It looks great (slick cinematography, expertise production values). The performances are warm & inviting. And when it finished, I loved knowing that I just watched - if not a groundbreaking film - a very solid, assured, & historically entertaining motion picture.