Under the sign of Gustav Klimt – RTP

Premiere

The story of a Gustav Klimt picture emerges entangled with the tragedies of the Jewish community in Vienna at the beginning of World War II – “Woman Gold “by Simon Curtis, with Helen Mirren in the central role, revisits the maze of this story.

Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, and background, Klimt frame – filming the legacy of war

 There is an epic dimension in the history of the context in which Gustav Klimt immortalized the figure of Adele Bloch-Bauer (the first of two in the Austrian painter portrayed that of Viennese high society lady at the beginning of the century. XX). In addition to its artistic uniqueness, the fact that it was stolen by the Nazis gave him a symbolic status – involving the timeless character of the very concept of beauty – that over time only reinforced.
 
 

Simon Curtis film, “Golden Woman” begins in 1998, precisely at the time that Maria Altmann, niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer, seeks to recover the painting, which is now owned by Austrian state. With the collaboration of attorney E. Randol Schoenberg, she will try to counter the very international diplomatic understandings, after having as primary motivation affective memories that, for her, the picture involves.

 
 
 

 “Golden Woman” follows a traditional model of narrative film, keeping a dramatic zigzag between the action Altmann and evocations of war, in particular the process of increasing aggression of the Nazis against the Jewish community of Vienna. The truth is that you know the rules that apply in a balanced fashion model in some didactic way, articulating the broad historical force with the specifics of individual destinies.
 

 
 

 Particularly strong in the work of actors – with inevitable especially Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds in the roles, respectively, Altmann and Schoenberg – the film confirms an important trend of the last three or four years, illustrated by titles like “Lore” (2012 ), Cate Shortland, or “Return” (2014), Pawel Pawlikowski. Namely: a willingness to review and re-enact WWII beyond the classic rules of the “movie of war.”
 

     

John Lopes Critical An updated at 18:35 – June 4 ’15

published 18:31 – June 4 ’15