It is no longer enough, it seems, to portray Nazis as evil. That is no longer good enough at all. Modern revisitation insists upon tearing down Nazi legacy as well – not only were they the most evil people ever, they were also, hmmm … bad dancers! Unhygienic! Poor conversationalists! I dunno about any of that, but given the recent cinematic finger pointing, I’d say Nazis were thieves. Heil, Pilfer! Crooktoberfest. Ich bin ein light fingered! And deciding The Monuments Men was just too much fun for audiences, Woman in Gold got rid of all that pesky humor and told the story of a WWII Austrian escapee (Helen Mirren) and her pet lawyer (Ryan Reynolds) trying to get her Klimt back.
Austrians don’t like it when you try to take their Klimts.
Maria Altmann (Mirren) belonged to a wealthy Jewish family in Austria when the Nazis invaded. Fifty years later, she finds herself the lone family survivor and has decided to devote the rest of her life in Los Angeles to something other than getting a tan. She decides she wants the art back, especially, the Woman in Gold, a world-renowned Gustav Klimt masterpiece of her aunt that’s been hanging in a Viennese museum for half a century. And, guess what? She knows a law guy. You’re in trouble now, Austria.
It was hard for me to get behind Maria’s motivation for two reasons 1) Because it kept changing and 2) because I was fearful for the end game – what if she wins? Is the object here to take a public painting beloved by museum patrons for decades and sequester it in personal quarters? That might be justice, but it’s hardly right.
On the changing movation — I swear, Director Simon Curtis got on set every morning and said, “hey Helen Mirren, how you feeling today? Frustrated? Fine, let’s go with that.” I’m not sure how else to explain the fact that her mood and her attitude towards Randol (Reynolds) changes with every scene. It’s certainly the only way imaginable to describe why a woman who won a S
upreme Court case allowing her to sue the Austrian government would suddenly decide she’s done. Of course, none of that can possibly account for why a young lawyer who was successful on the Supreme Court level was still without prospects. American legal firms – you don’t have a need for this guy, huh? Well, we all know how Americans have no love of underdogs or victory.
I digress. Woman in Gold is told in two timelines – a modern one fighting legal battles in the 1990s and a WWII one with young Maria (Tatiana Maslany — my daughter will be most displeased if I fail to mention this up-and-coming star) and her husband escaping Nazi occupation. This was a wise choice; as much as the modern legal battles tell a classic David v. Goliath tale, they aren’t terribly interesting. We know she’s right; the question is when will Austria give in? As noted above, Woman in Gold spared no invented controversy to spice up the modern story line. Are we gonna sue? Are we not gonna sue? Is Randol in financial trouble or no? Is Randol a polished force or a noob? Conversely, the 40s story line was simple and tense – escape the Nazis. You can get a lot of mileage out of “Escape the Nazis.”
Look, Monuments Men is a better film. It’s better from several perspectives. But if you’re desperate for this tale to be retold, you can do worse.
♪I’ve never seen you looking any diff’rent than you did tonight
I’ve never seen you in Monday light
(The museum is closed)
I’ve never seen Austria ask you if you want that hallway
They’re looking for a legal stay, and we want you anyway
And I’ve seen that dress you’re wearing
In every postcard from here to Bonn; I want you gone
The Woman in Gold is fodder for war, clerk to clerk
There’s nobody here, it’s just and me, jawing about some Nazi
And I hardly know, if we’ll win this legal fight
But I’ll never forget when I caught a Klimts tonight♫
Rated PG-13, 109 Minutes
D: Simon Curtis
W: Alexi Kaye Campbell
Genre: Nuremburglars
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: WWII Jewish refugees
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Austrians
♪ Parody inspired by “Lady in Red”
