Woman In Gold (2015)
Director: Simon Curtis.
Synopsis
Maria Altmann (Mirren) is in her eighties and runs a successful boutique clothing store in Beverley Hills. She approaches Randol, a young, inexperienced but talented lawyer (Reynolds) to help her with an extraordinary case – to reclaim the priceless ‘Woman In Gold’ painting by Gustav Klimt, which features the image of her long-dead Aunt, who posed for Klimt and that this belongs to her family. Randol has passion and a sense of decency so the two begin a long and arduous legal journey to help get the painting back, as Mirren faces the ghosts of her past.
Review
It isn't the easiest of jobs to create a film about Nazi crimes and atrocities and make it entertaining for a wider audience. Decency dictates there should be a certain solemnity, butWoman In Gold manages to balance the two, with Helen Mirren on queenly form as an amusingly brusque elderly woman seeking what she claims is rightfully hers, with flashbacks to the outrages of WWII.
Ryan Reynolds and Daniel Bruhl provide quieter, less flashy, but passionate performances as the men supporting her quest for truth and justice.
The film has a healthy moral right on its side, despite too much legal jibber-jabber at points and director Curtis winds up the suspense commendably as he takes us through a mountainous legal system to the final decision.
To read the full review: http://ow.ly/LuKn9
For details of all films at Cineworld Milton Keynes: http://www.cineworld.co.uk/cinemas/milton-keynes
Cast & credits
Producers: David M. Thompson, Kris Thykier. Writer: Alexi Kay Campbell. Camera: Ross Emery. Music: Martin Phipps, Hans Zimmer. Sets: Jim Clay.
Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Bruhl, Katie Holmes, Tatiana Maslany, Max Irons, Charles Dance, Antje Traue, Elizabeth McGovern, Frances Fisher, Jonathan Pryce, Ben Miles.
