A Movie “Woman in Gold” 6/21/15

June 21, 2015

I truly enjoyed this movie because I am a great fan of Klimt’s paintings and the movie is based in LA where I live! Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), an octogenarian Jewish refugee, who settled in LA after she fled from Nazis Austria, takes on the Austrian government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family. Maria’s aunt’s Adele was the model for the famous “Woman in Gold” (‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’). Her husband, a wealthy business man, commissioned Klimt to paint his wife. Maria’s family was a great arts patron, and owned many paintings and artistic objects in their apartment which was located in the center of Vienna, and it is still there. This movie is the remarkable true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family. Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds), a grand son of Arnold Schoenberg, she embarks upon a major battle which takes them all the way to the heart of the Austrian establishment and the U.S. Supreme Court. The director is Simon Curtis. It is a “MUST” movie!