Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: an older lady (played by a serious British actor) teams up with a younger (but not that young) guy (played by an actor better known for comedy work) to travel to a faraway land in a quest to right a wrong from the past that has haunted her – and a nation – all her life. So yeah, if you really enjoyed Philomena there’s a pretty strong chance you’ll like Woman in Gold, as structure wise they’re basically the same film – even though they’re both based on completely different true stories.
This one involves Austrian Jew turned LA shop-owner Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), who fled her homeland after the arrival of the Nazis in the ’30s, leaving behind everything she owned. It turns out that amongst her possessions may very well have been (thanks to the deaths of everyone left behind) a famous Klimt painting of her aunt known as the Woman in Gold – an Austrian national treasure on display in the state museum. Having no love for the Austrians (her memories largely involve how quickly they sided with the Nazis), she’d like it back, and lawyer Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Renyolds) is… well, not the ideal man to help her (his career is currently on the skids), but he’s willing to give it a shot.
It’s a fairly plodding tale that largely plays out in various court rooms, padded out with lengthy flashbacks detailing her connection to her aunt, the painting and the rise of the Nazis (featuring Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany as young Maria). Both leads are strong and have good chemistry together, which does keep things watch-able so long as you’re able to overlook the fact this is a movie about a woman wanting to take a painting out of a national gallery to keep for herself (which is a situation that would make pretty much every national gallery in the world a little uncomfortable, even if in the specific case here she’s firmly in the right). Despite a surprisingly forthright “never forgive, never forget” attitude, this remains largely forgettable – aside from the painting itself, which gets numerous close-ups and is clearly worth all the attention.
