This is a true story; it is unlikely anyone could have created fiction that would approach it.
In 1907, an aristocratic Jewish family in Vienna, Austria commissioned artist Gustav Klimt to paint a portrait of their daughter Adele Bloch-Bauer. Today, that painting is one of the most valuable on earth, witness the $135 million paid for it in 2006. The history of that painting created this amazing tale, one that will draw you in and keep you engulfed until the very end.
The movie stars Helen Mirren as Maria Altmann, the niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer and to whom the painting rightfully belongs. She has been living in Los Angeles since she and her husband escaped the Nazi vendetta in Austria before World War II began. The rest of her family and all their belongings disappeared with the rest of the Austrian Jewish population. The film relies on fine acting and a great story, but Maria’s escape scene is a sudden change of pace and is as exciting, chilling, and tense as it gets.
After the war, the Austrian government recovered the Nazi stockpile of stolen art, and with it, the portrait nicknamed the “Lady in Gold,” due to the adornment Adele wore for the painting. They proudly hung it in their museum and called it Austria’s “Mona Lisa” and claimed ownership.
Woman in Gold
Entertainment Rating: ★★★
Rating: PG-13, one brief moment of profanity, bullying and abuse by Nazi perpetrators
Possible Oscar Nominations: Cinematography, Ross Emory; Film Editing, Peter Lambert; Production Design, Jim Clay
Our story begins fifty years later when Maria Altmann decides to pursue her rightful ownership to the painting. She enlists the assistance of young attorney E. Randall Schoenberg, played by Ryan Reynolds. They are both resplendent in their roles, but I doubt Oscar nominations will result, although they probably should. In any event, Director Simon Curtis did an awesome job in the use of flashbacks to show us the story of what took place in the 1930s, preparing us for the legal battles that began their planning in Maria Altmann’s kitchen of her humble Los Angeles home in 1998.
Even the least skeptical person would agree the road traveled to this end would be impossible. Armed with one piece of paper suggesting the painting did not necessarily belong to the Austrian government, they begin their journey. Eventually through dogged research and little by little overcoming one obstacle after another they manage an appearance in a lower level courtroom in California. Austria flies in its most powerful legal team to argue against the plaintiffs and the real battle begins.
I won’t spoil the story except to say the saga lasts ten years, consuming the lives of Maria and Randall. It is a meaningful look at many areas, including the decimation of the lives of the peaceful Jewish population in Austria even before the war began. It is also a deep look into the hearts and souls of determination and grit and how the resolve of one person might change the course of history.
