Helen Mirren stars in "Woman in Gold."
By Jennifer Merin: Helen Mirren's performance as an octogenarian determined to reclaim her family's stolen art treasure is pure inspiration. Emma Thompson's screenplay brings the teenage wife of Victorian art critic John Ruskin to cinematic life (WOMENSENEWS) "Woman in Gold," which opens today, April 1, is a compelling truth-based drama about Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren), a determined octogenarian who interrupted her quiet Southern California life to challenge the Austrian government to reclaim her family's stolen art treasure. In particular, she is focused on the iconic Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer, Gustav Klimpt's renowned painting of Altmann's beloved Aunt Adele. The portrait, nicknamed Woman in Gold, had been seized, along with other valuable Klimpt paintings, by the Nazis from Altmann's family home in Vienna. After World War II, the painting was
taken by the Austrian government and put on permanent display in Vienna's Belvedere Museum. Discovering documentation of her family's ownership of the paintings, Altmann sought restitution, but was denied. The film's coverage of her high-stakes legal battle and its evolution will fascinate all who've had family treasures and legacy items stolen from them. But its focus on Altmann's character and unceasing determination in her quest for justice is what brings the story iconic stature. Dame Mirren's performance is pure inspiration. "Effie Gray" is actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson's take on the life and times of Euphemia Gray, a.k.a. Effie. She was the teenage wife of Victorian art critic John Ruskin, and she daringly escaped his marital neglect and the abuse of his domineering mother by becoming the lover of the pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais. The movie is appropriately slow paced under Richard Laxton's richly nuanced direction and explores the underbelly of Victorian repression. Cinematography, costumes and art direction are superb. Dakota Fanning shows real guts as Effie, who ultimately trades propriety for true love laced with healthy lust. The irrepressible Thompson co-stars as Lady Eastlake, an enlightened elder advisor who guides Effie on her path to self-realization. Source: Womens eNews, Open Images In New Browser To Find Its Source Of Sharing..
