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Woman in Gold

We just watched this BBC movie, which tells the true story of the famous Klimt painting of an Austrian Jewish woman, its theft by the Nazis, and her niece’s effort to recover and repatriate it after the war. She was represented in court in her efforts by the grandson of another famous Austrian Jew, composer Arnold Schönberg, who quit his lucrative job with a Los Angeles law firm to take up her case.

https://www.neuegalerie.org/womaningold

I will not try to summarize the film, but will let this review do it for me:

The film is touching, uplifting, dramatic, and emotive. Helen Mirren gives a flawless performance as an octogenarian Jewish refugee who has created a new life for herself in America after fleeing Nazi persecution in Vienna. Ultimately, the film is about the triumph of justice and the righting of a historic wrong. To see an old woman sue the Govt. of Austria in the U.S. Supreme Court is in itself reason enough to watch the film. What the film teaches us about history, bureaucracy, treachery, cruelty, and the indomitable nature of the human spirit is added incentive to appreciate this film.

From https://www.scribalmultiverse.com/film-review-klimt-and-woman-in-gold/

Posted by
600 posts

I loved this movie, Lola. I haven’t made it to see the painting in NYC yet unfortunately. What an amazing story it is, to take on a leading museum and win. I was in Vienna in Nov and another Klimt was on view at the Belvedere that had a background that also made you question the rightful ownership.

Posted by
2667 posts

I loved the movie, too!
I have seen the painting at the Neue Galerie, and plan to see it again while in NYC next month.

Posted by
1084 posts

I watched this movie pre-pandemic during one of my flights to Europe. Highly recommend it.

Posted by
7162 posts

Loved this movie. I also read the book and loved it too: The Lady in Gold by Anne-Marie O'Connor. Curious that they changed the name to Woman in Gold for the movie.

Posted by
4162 posts

If anyone is curious , these two sources will go far to illuminate this subject - " Vienna , City of Dreams " a ninety minutes documentary by Harvard Art Historian , Joseph Koerner is brilliant . The section on Klimt and his work starts at 18:10 https://youtu.be/AFZBOTgL_Hk?si=mxXZgatoS2ERIq9D Also this fine book by Carl Schorske is arguably the best in depth study of Fin De Siècle Vienna The chapter , " Gustav Klimt ; Painting and The Crisis of The Liberal Ego " goes into great detail about The Bloch Bauer portrait and his late Secessionist oeuvre .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fin-de-si%C3%A8cle_Vienna

Posted by
3497 posts

A great movie.
We were watching it when a small earthquake struck our area and we had to abandon it with 10 minutes till the end!
Watched it a few days later.