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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Helen Mirren keeps her chin up in a sentimental true-life drama, playing Maria Altmann, a proud Jewish woman who fled Austria during the Nazi invasion and made headlines decades later, in 2000, when she sought to reclaim a Gustav Klimt portrait of her aunt - Klimt's muse, Adele Bloch-Bauer - from the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna. There are shades of Philomena as the older woman teams up with a lawyer (Ryan Reynolds) seeking justice on her behalf (though Reynolds keeps his usual wisecracking shtick toned down). Altmann is a source of mild humour, with her brittle exactitude, even if director Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn) isn't entirely sure how to approach her - the shadow of the Holocaust hangs over her as well. The flashbacks to Altmann's escape from Austria (young Maria played by Tatiana Maslany) are the tensest scenes of the film, and that surely isn't as it should be. Curtis doesn't convey the emotional pull of the artwork that keeps Altmann soldiering on, and heaps this burden on his star instead. Still, it's an intriguing David v Goliath battle and Mirren positively glows with indignation.

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Credits

Cast

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Maria AltmannHelen Mirren
Randol SchoenbergRyan Reynolds
Hubertus CzerninDaniel Brühl
PamKatie Holmes
Young MariaTatiana Maslany
FritzMax Irons
ShermanCharles Dance
Adele Bloch-BauerAntje Traue
Judge Florence CooperElizabeth McGovern
Chief Justice RehnquistJonathan Pryce
Barbara SchoenbergFrances Fisher
Gustav KlimtMoritz Bleibtreu
Ferdinand Bloch-BauerHenry Goodman
Gustav Bloch-BauerAllan Corduner

Crew

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DirectorSimon Curtis

Details

Theatrical distributor
Entertainment
Released on
2015-04-10
Languages
English | German | Hebrew
Guidance
Swearing
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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