Gustav klimt biography movie ryan reynolds

"Woman in Gold" has a rich story to tell. The true account of Maria Altmann's fight to reclaim a famed Gustav Klimt painting of her aunt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I," first stolen by the Nazis and then appropriated by Austria after the war, is laced with riveting history, deep and complex emotion, and fascinating bureaucracy. Yet director Simon Curtis's rendering of Altmann's tale, though respectful and pretty, is somehow lifeless.

There is almost too much here for a single movie. Curtis, who charmed with his Marilyn Monroe slice of life "My Week with Marilyn," relies on a combination of flashbacks of Maria's pre-war life in Vienna and the present day tick-tock of her legal quest to take ownership of the painting.

Played in the present by Helen Mirren, Maria is a prickly woman with a thick Austrian accent. She owns a boutique in a fancy part of Los Angeles and, following the death of her sister, has made up her mind that she would like to claim what is hers. The man she convinces to help her is Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds), a dull corporate lawyer with a prestigious pedigree and a few poor career choices on his resume.

It's been over 60 years since Maria fled Austria during World War II and she is sickened by the thought of returning, refusing to even speak the language when they arrive abroad to plead their case. In Vienna, they're helped by a young native journalist (Daniel Brühl) who functions mostly as a human exposition vehicle.

With two actors as charming as Mirren and Reynolds anchoring the story, it's a bit disarming that their charisma never really manages to energize the sluggish tale. Part of that is for effect — they're supposed to grow to love and admire one another while he learns to respect her history — but the eventual payoff doesn't connect. These characters aren't equipped to deliver the lively generational comedy that this story so desperately needs.

The flashbacks, ranging

Woman in Gold is a 2015 Britishdramamovie. The movie is based on the true story of Maria Altmann, who lived in Los Angeles.

Altmann fought the government of Austria for almost ten years to get back Gustav Klimt's iconic painting of her aunt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Altmann took her legal battle to the Supreme Court of the United States. It ruled in her favor in Republic of Austria v. Altmann (2004).

The movie was screened in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.

Cast

Production

On May 15, 2014, Tatiana Maslany was cast in a principal role as the younger version of Helen Mirren's character, appearing in the WWII flashbacks. On May 29, Katie Holmes also joined the cast.Elizabeth McGovern, Charles Dance and Max Irons also joined. On July 9, 2014, Frances Fisher joined to play the mother of Ryan Reynolds' character.

Reception

This movie was released in April 2015. It got mixed reviews. It grossed over $35 million in the box office. Rotten Tomatoes rates the movie 52%.Metacritic gives the movie a 51% rating That means "mixed or average" reviews. The Roger Ebert website, RogerEbert.com, gave the movie two and a half stars.Rex Reed of New York Observer called Woman in Gold "an extraordinary love story turned into an exemplary motion picture about one German Jew".

References

1. ↑Michael Rosser (15 January 2015). "The Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren, and Anton Corbijn's Life, starring Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan, to world premiere at Berlinale". Screen Daily. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
2. ↑"Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany Joins Helen Mirren in Woman in Gold". Digital Spy. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
3. ↑"Katie Holmes Joins Woman in Gold". Deadline. Ret

By Anne-Marie O'Connor

The true story that inspired the movie Woman in Gold starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds.

The Award-Winning Nazi Art Theft Saga
Winner of the Marfield National Award for Arts Writing
Winner of a California Book Award

“Fascinating. . . . A mesmerizing tale of art and the Holocaust.” —The Washington Post

“Writing with a novelist’s dynamism, O’Connor resurrects fascinating individuals and tells a many-faceted, intensely affecting, and profoundly revelatory tale of the inciting power of art and the unending need for justice.”—Booklist, starred review

“O’Connor skillfully filters Austria’s troubled twentieth century through the life of Klimt’s most beloved muse. . . . A nuanced view of a painting whose story transcends its own time.” —Bookforum

Contributor to the Washington Post Anne-Marie O’Connor brilliantly regales us with the galvanizing story of Gustav Klimt’s 1907 masterpiece—the breathtaking portrait of a Viennese Jewish socialite, Adele Bloch-Bauer. The celebrated painting, stolen by Nazis during World War II, subsequently became the subject of a decade-long dispute between her heirs and the Austrian government.

When the U.S. Supreme Court became involved in the case, its decision had profound ramifications in the art world. Expertly researched, masterfully told, The Lady in Gold is at once a stunning depiction of fin-de siècle Vienna, a riveting tale of Nazi war crimes, and a fascinating glimpse into the high-stakes workings of the contemporary art world.

Paperback
349 pages
Vintage Books, 2015
5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
ISBN 9781101873120
Art History, Nonfiction

2015 British drama film directed by Simon Curtis

Woman in Gold is a 2015 biographicaldrama film directed by Simon Curtis and written by Alexi Kaye Campbell. The film stars Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl, Katie Holmes, Tatiana Maslany, Max Irons, Charles Dance, Elizabeth McGovern, and Jonathan Pryce.

The film is based on the true story of Maria Altmann, an elderly Jewish refugee living in Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles, who, together with her young lawyer, Randy Schoenberg, fought the government of Austria for almost a decade to reclaim Gustav Klimt's iconic painting of her aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which was stolen from her relatives by the Nazis in Vienna just prior to World War II. Altmann took her legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled on the case Republic of Austria v. Altmann (2004).

The film was screened in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival on 9 February 2015 and was released in the United Kingdom on 10 April 2015 and in the United States on 1 April.

Plot

In a series of flashbacks, Maria Altmann recalls the Anschluss, the arrival of Nazi forces in Vienna, the persecution of the Jewish community, and the looting and pillaging by the Nazis of Jewish families. Maria and her family attempt to flee to the United States. While Maria and her husband are successful, she is forced to abandon her parents in Vienna.

In 1998, living in Los Angeles, an elderly and widowed Altmann attends the funeral of her sister. She discovers letters in her sister's possession dating to the late 1940s, which reveal an attempt to recover artwork owned by the Bloch-Bauer family that was left behind during the family's flight for freedom and stolen by the Nazis. Of particular note is a painting of Altmann's aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, now known in Austria as the "Woman in Gold".

Altmann enlists the help of E