Woman in Gold
The amazing true story of Maria Altmann.
"Plenty of stars glitter in Woman In Gold. But the film's impact comes from the fact that it is real: It's the compelling true story of a woman who sought justice in the face of seemingly insurmountable international obstacles."
For the second time in a year, the recovery of art treasures stolen by the Nazis gets the big Hollywood star treatment. But where George Clooney's The Monuments Men was a high-stakes wartime drama with a crack military team hunting down caves filled with purloined masterpieces, Woman in Gold is much more intimate in scale. This also makes it more affecting.
Maria Altmann was just a child when her Jewish family escaped Vienna. They left behind their extensive art collection, including a 1907 portrait of Maria's aunt by the celebrated Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt.
In the postwar years, the work became the centerpiece of the city's art museum. To the millions who loved it, the painting was known only as "Woman in Gold," effectively erasing the name of its Jewish subject, Adele Bloch-Bauer.
It’s a touching film that entertains with warmth and humor while teaching us something about history, law and justice with enormous heart, subtlety and compassion, brilliantly acted and skillfully written. Is there anything Helen Mirren cannot do?
I will simply say that in addition to a fine film, if you want to see the actual Woman in Gold, it’s on view in the elegant Neue Galerie in New York City from April 2 to September 7.
