The Woman in Gold
In the week in
which German courts have begun proceedings against 93 year-old ex-Auschwitz
guard Oskar Groening for his part in war crimes (he is accused of being an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000
Jews at the camp), it seems the past continues to spread its tendrils forward
into the present with the release of a new film set in 1930s Vienna. Based on the story of the restitution of art works stolen from
Jewish families by the Nazis during WW2, specifically of the theft of Klimt
paintings from the Bloch-Bauer family of Vienna, the film Woman in Gold deals with the themes of justice, loyalty and
retribution. It details the struggle of one woman, Maria Altmann, who decides
at the age of 82 to seek out the truth about a wrong perpetrated against her
family many decades ago.
The film opens
with the funeral of Maria’s beloved sister and proceeds from there to tell
Altmann’s story through a series of flashbacks: her happy childhood growing up
in Vienna, the annexation of Austria in 1938 and subsequent suppression of the
Jewish community, and her wedding followed by escape to Cologne (and from there
eventually to the US). Now settled in Los Angeles, Altmann decides the time has
come to “face her ghosts”, as she describes it, and seek the restitution of the
many artefacts stolen during the Anschluss.
She hires an ambitious young lawyer, Randol Schönberg (played by Ryan Reynolds)
to fight her case for the return of a number of paintings on show in Vienna’s
Belvedere Gallery. Thus begins the unlikely pairing of doughty elderly Austrian
Jew and young, ambitious American lawyer in what feels at times like a reprise
of the elderly woman/younger man scenario, i.e. Dench and Coogan on their crusade
for the truth in "Philomena". They plead their case before the
Viennese Restitution Commission but are unsuccessful as the authorities claim to have evidence that the
paintings, including the famous portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (the Woman in
Gold of the title and definitely the star of the show for me!) were in fact
legitimately willed to the gallery by the family. On returning to the US, Schönberg
continues to research the case and finds that the Commission’s claim is
actually incorrect - the alleged will in fact left everything to Maria’s uncle
Ferdinand, and then in turn to Maria and her sister. Schönberg decides on the bold, but it turns out not unprecedented, move to
take the Austrian government to the US Supreme Court, in a case known famously
as Republic of Austria v. Altmann (2004).
The case succeeds, the paintings are taken back with Maria to the US, with the
Woman in Gold sold to Estée Lauder heir, Ronald Lauder, for a record £73
million. She was also awarded £11 million as compensation for the
misappropriation by the Nazis of her family’s sugar refinery, the majority of
this money being donated to charities, including to set up sponsorships for aspiring
young opera singers (in honour of her husband).
Woman in Gold has received mixed reviews: ‘a disappointingly
dull treatment of a fascinating true story’ said one critic; ‘distinctly
ordinary’ said the Telegraph’s Tim Robey; ‘treacly, sentimental treatment
drowned in kitsch’ was the Guardian’s Ryan Gilbey’s damning assessment. I would
agree that the film lacks dramatic tension (inevitable in a film that revolves
around a court case?) and that it does, at times, veer towards the schmaltzy. I
was, however, sufficiently interested in the true-life story of this remarkable
woman and her quest for what was rightfully hers, to forgive the movie its
faults and I was unashamedly smiling inside when the verdict was delivered at
the end. Helen Mirren is superb and manages a convincing portrayal of a
conflicted individual, someone haunted by events of the past and yet at the
same time wanting to forget (though not necessarily forgive) and move on. I
thought at times Ryan Reynolds was a little over-earnest but I enjoyed seeing
Daniel Brühl as the investigative reporter, whose admission that his father had
been a member of the Nazi party, added an extra dimension to the plot. For a
film based on such a tragically sad episode in history, the movie is surprisingly
short on pathos – in fact, Maria’s anguished farewell from her parents before
fleeing Austria is an all too rare moment of emotion. But if you enjoy a tale
involving an underdog taking on a seemingly impossible task in the face of
mightier forces... and winning through, then you will be glad you saw this
film.
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