by Sandra Olmsted

Memory and melodrama seem to go hand in hand, and The Woman in Gold is no exception; however, director Simon Curtis uses both to share the suspense the real life people experienced in this true story. This film made for the older audience also evokes a classic Hollywood studio style.

The Woman In Gold is the true story of Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), whose aunt was painted by Klimt in the 1920s. In the late 1990s, Maria approached a friend’s son and newly minted lawyer, Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds), to help her pursue the return of the several Klimt’s including the famed painting, all of which had been stolen by the Nazi. Later, the paint of Maria’s Aunt Adele (Antje Traue) was claimed and renamed by Austria’s Belvedere Palace musuem, along with the other Klimts that Maria’s family once owned.

The return of artworks and valuables stolen by the Nazi is one of the injustices not yet meaningfully addressed in the interantional courts at the time Maria and Randy pursue the case. Although Maria refuses to return to Austria at first, she eventually goes with Randy on the first of several trips to convince and/or confront the Austrian government committee charged with handling the claims of property stolen by the Nazis. Joined by Hubertus Czernin (Daniel Bruhl), an Austrian journalist who believes in the return of all stolen properties, joins their fight and helps negotiate some tricky situations and bureaucratic hurdles. Meanwhile, Austrian seems reluctant to release the “Mona Lisa” of Austria; furthermore, they have renamed the painting to remove the Jewish-ness of the subject.

In flashbacks to her youth, Maria reveals her perceptions of her elegant life before the Nazi and her Nazi-crazed countrymen and women. Played by Tatiana Maslany as a young woman, Maria relives indelible moments, such as the entry of Nazi Germany’s troops into the city, the public humilation of Jews, her marriage to handsome opera singer Fritz (Max Irons), saying good-bye to her parents Gustav and Therese Bloch-Bauer (Alain Corduner and Nina Kunzendorf) and Uncle Ferdinand (Henry Goodman), her own flight from Austria, and her beloved and glamorous Aunt Adele. Maria evokes in Randy and Hubertus their own connections to Austria Nazi past. As an inexperienced lawyer, Randy seems an usual underdog for Maria to put her faith in, but she is as motivated by her faith in what feels right as she is by her sense of injustice which has simmered for sixty years.

Those who enjoyed Philomena will find Curtis’ classic storytelling and building of suspense will enjoy The Women in Gold. Curtis builds suspense despite the film being based on a true story that had international ramifications in its resolution. The Woman in Gold, a release by The Weinstein Company, is rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and brief strong language and runs 109 minutes.

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