Plot
Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.
Release Year: 2015
Rating: 6.8/10 (186 voted)
Critic's Score: 30/100
Director: Simon Curtis
Stars: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl
Storyline
Maria Altman sought to regain a world famous painting of her aunt plundered by the Nazis during World War II. She did so not just to regain what was rightfully hers, but also to obtain some measure of justice for the death, destruction, and massive art theft perpetrated by the Nazis.
Writers: Alexi Kaye Campbell, E. Randol Schoenberg
Cast: Ryan Reynolds -
Randol Schoenberg
Tatiana Maslany -
Young Maria Altmann
Katie Holmes -
Pam
Antje Traue -
Helen Mirren -
Maria Altmann
Charles Dance -
Sherman
Max Irons -
Fritz
Daniel Brühl -
Elizabeth McGovern -
Frances Fisher -
Neve Gachev -
Court Observer
Jonathan Pryce -
Tom Schilling -
Heinrich
Moritz Bleibtreu -
Klimt
Anthony Howell -
Junior Official
Filming Locations: Shoreham Airport, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England, UK
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Director Simon Curtis is real-life husband of Downton Abbey actress, Elizabeth McGovern. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 7/10
A WWII true story drama that deserves to be told on the screen. Helen
Mirren gives yet another astounding performance and I was pleasantly
surprised by Ryan Reynolds. What would attract audiences to WOMAN IN
GOLD is its David Vs. Goliath story, everybody loves a story about an
underdog taking on the impossible and that's what WOMAN IN GOLD
essentially is.
Directed by Simon Curtis who gave us "My Week With Marilyn" four years
ago, Helen Mirren plays an elderly Jewish woman named Maria Altmann who
sixty years after she fled Vienna, Austria to escape the Nazis, starts
her uphill legal battles to retrieve a valuable painting that was
seized by the Nazis, a painting that is now in the possession of a
museum in Austria. A young lawyer, Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds)
helps Maria in her quest that receives resistance from the Austrian
establishment. All the while her quest forces Maria to finally confront
her past WWII provides a ton of stories for cinemas to depict, they
will never run out of WWII materials, this one tackles the fact that
thousands of artwork and paintings, that were stolen by Nazis, to this
day, have never been restored to their rightful owners. Maria's story
is just one of the thousands, and I think it's fascinating that WOMAN
IN GOLD basically says that yes, sometimes we need to leave the past
where it belongs, the past, but when the past committed a great deal of
injustice on us, one can't just easily dismiss it and simply use 'the
past' as an excuse to not pursue justice. It's obvious too from Helen
Mirren's performance, Helen understands that Maria carries a certain
guilt all these years, guilt that she blames herself for abandoning her
family and abandoning their possessions. Mirren is excellent at
presenting us this tortured conflicted soul, caught between being
haunted by the past and the desperate need to forget and move on. And
Ryan Reynolds holds his ground as the young persistent lawyer. I think
people don't give Ryan enough credit because he's a heartthrob, but the
man can pass as a struggling family man with strong conviction. I think
WOMAN IN GOLD is an important film, unfortunately I doubt that it would
be remembered during award season mainly because we're still fresh from
another Weinstein Company's drama, "Philomena" a couple of years ago
which also showed an elderly woman accompanied by a young lad, both on
a crusade for the truth.
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