WOMAN IN GOLD (Simon Curtis). 110 minutes. Some subtitles. Opens Friday (April 3). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNN
Where to watch: iTunes
This story of an intrepid woman determined to recover her family’s painting stolen by the Nazis is hopelessly Hollywoodized – it’s always irritating to see monstrous events sanitized – but when you get to watch Helen Mirren in action, you can live with it.
She plays L.A.based Maria Altmann, who in 1998 hires lawyer Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) to sue the Belvedere Museum, where the Klimt masterpiece Woman In Gold hangs. The action compels her to return to Vienna, where she relives painful memories of Hitler’s rise and the torment her family suffered. (Tatiana Maslany plays the young Maria.)
Reynolds simply has to play against type as the nerdy attorney, but Mirren – with a much better German accent than the French one she mustered for The Hundred-Foot Journey – is superb, doing wonders with the smallest of gestures, a small flick of her hair to suggest her vanity, a steely gaze to convey her resolve.
The narrative is by-the-book, segues to the flashbacks are a bit corny, and the conflict the suit engenders between Schoenberg and his wife (Katie Holmes) is too easily resolved.
But don’t worry about that. Just watch Mirren do her thing.
