Saturday, April 22

Movie Review: Woman in Gold (2015)


Film Title: Woman in Gold
Length: 1 hr and 49 mins
Released: 2015
Genre: Biography, Drama, & Historical
Rating: PG-13
Where I Got It: Netflix


SUMMARY:
Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family.





TRAILER:







REVIEW:
For some reason I really do adore stories that jump around with the past and "present". I love seeing how they tied together. This movie is on of those. It follows Maria in "present day" (the 90s) and Maria in the 1930s-1940s before and after WWII. Maria was part of a wealthy Jewish family in Austria. As we all know, the Nazis come rolling in and start taking things and taking lives. Years later, Maria gets a family friend to sign-up and help her try and get her Aunt's painting that was stolen from her family home. 

This was an interesting watch and I love how this is based on a true story. Poor Maria. She lost everything when she and her husband left Austria. All she wanted was some justice, but of course the Austrian government were aholes and refused to give what was rightfully hers. Jerks. But her and her lawyer friend pushed forward. 

I normally like the jumping around with flashbacks and the like, but I feel like I would've liked this more if it had a more linear story-line. Or have the beginning and end set in the 90s and the middle of the film set in the past. The jumping around didn't flow that well.

The cast was decent. I am a huge fan of Mirren and Reynolds. However, I feel like their performances were not up to par. Mirren's attempt at an Austrian accent fell in and out. She seemed to switch to British and that was annoying. Reynolds seemed to lack his normal zest and emotion. He seemed kinda boring in this role. Maybe that was what he was aiming for? But even during scenes that required a lot of emotion, he seemed flat. The rest of the cast was okay. 

I feel like their were a lot of plot-holes that were ignored at the end especially with the flashbacks. Like...do we know what happened to her parents? What about her husband? What was the bad news her sister had? Lots of questions. I am sure I can look them up (and I have), but c'mon...don't leave loose ends. 

In the end, this was okay. I enjoyed watching it. It made me tear-up and made me feel feelings. However, I felt like they slapped this together and didn't take the extra time to cover the loose ends, make sure Mirren stayed in the right accent, and so forth. It just needed a hair more work. I do recommend it. It is a lovely story of justice. I shall give it 3 stars. 

Re-watch?: Once is good for me. 




3 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

yes once was enough

Melliane said...

I didn't know about this one

Carole Rae said...

B, once was indeed enough.

Melliane, not a bad one.