Liverpool Sound and vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Katie Holmes, Tatiana Maslany, Max Irons, Charles Dance, Elizabeth McGovern, Antje Traue, Daniel Brühl, Neve Gachev, Frances Fisher, Jonathan Pryce, Tom Schilling, Moritz Bleibtreu, Anthony Howell, Moritz Bleibtreu, Allan Corduner, Henry Goodman, Nina Kunzendorf, Alma Hasun, Justus Von Dohanyi, Kudger Pistor, Ben Miles, Rolf Saxon.
The art of forgetting, it is what keeps humanity tucked up in their beds at night, safe in the knowledge that some parts of history will never be repeated because someone else will keep an eye, or and can be seen as much worse than the true lack of vigilance, forgetting because they find the enormity of the evil that was allowed to breath in the darkness that spread far and wide in Europe is not to their sensitive ears. They could even pretend it didn’t happen, that wide-scale theft and dishonour is still something that gets applauded in some hearts.
The latest film to deal with that time does not pretend to be one that shows the gravity of the situation that led to the Holocaust, more to do with the wrongs in large scale jealousy, of mass-state endorsed theft and how to regain even a semblance of a previous life, to be acknowledged for the person you are and the right to your proper title restored to you. For years deprived of a name because it might upset the populace, the painting known as the Woman In Gold is an example of the name being expunged from history.
Based on the true story of Maria Altmann and her struggle to take back what was stolen from her family during the annexation of Austria by the Nazis, to place her aunt’s name with pride once more ahead of the Nazi given name of Woman In Gold and ultimately to regain the peace of mind to step once more into a country that had turned into an enemy. Woman In Gold leaves, as all good films that immerse themselves into the timeline history has provided, with the potent mixture of rising anger and fear that must be resisted at all costs and the understanding that in crimes such as this, whether in the form of theft of a name or the undisguised horror at what happened across Europe, there is no time limit to be placed on what is the right thing to do.
There will be those that decry this film, they will happily sharpen their pencils and suggest that there is made for television Sunday attitude attached to it, that does the film a great disservice and aside for the final minutes which is fantastically twee. Woman In Gold is an unavoidable film in which to truly realise that we are only ever one dictatorship away from having our names removed again.
Woman in Gold is perhaps arguably far the best film Helen Mirren has ever been in but such is her grace and energy, a film that isn’t her best, still outshines many others whose calibre cannot reach as high. With Daniel Brühl adding decorum and conscious to the film in his role as Hubertus Czernin and an exceptional performance by Tatiana Maslany as the younger Maria Altmann, Woman In Gold restores the faith in history that all names are rightfully returned in the end and for Gustav Klimpt’s Woman In Gold, the rightful name of Adele Bloch-Bauer is restored to its place in the world.
Films that deal with true life, that deal with the real rather than some explored fantasy should always have something to draw upon which restores human nature and the understanding that no matter the price of vigilance, our names must always be kept pure.
Ian D. Hall