'Woman In Gold' is not only, incredibly, a true story, but also an incredible true story.
Currently in cinemas in American and Britain, 'Woman in Gold' recounts the astonishing true story of one woman's tenacious process to correct an injustice: to restore a stolen painting to its rightful owner. The problem was that the painting is Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer I (better known as "Woman in Gold"), regarded as the Mona Lisa of Austria with pride of place in the national gallery and valued at over $100 million. It was stolen from the Bloch-Bauer family by the Nazis in 1938.
Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds in 'Woman In Gold'
More than 60 years later, Adele's niece Maria Altmann sued the Austrian government for restitution, a battle that took her to the US Supreme Court before reaching binding arbitration in Vienna in 2006 and returning the painting to her.
More: Read The Review For 'Woman In Gold'
"It's a great story," says Helen Mirren, who plays Maria on-screen. "It's about justice and perseverance. The only fear was that it just became yet another movie about World War II. We were lucky our director lifted it into something personal."
Watch The Trailer For 'Woman In Gold' Here:
Critics have commented on the power of the narrative, as well as Mirren's sharply crafted performance, but they have also attacked the film for badly simplifying the events for a wider audience. As a result, the film has a weak 51% approval rating on Metacritic and 53% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences have been a bit kinder, giving it 71% on IMDb.
More: Helen Mirren Shines In Woman In Gold
While Mirren enjoys playing complex real-life characters like Altmann or the Queen, she has revealed that her real ambition is for action. "I so want to be a mad driver in a 'Fast and Furious' movie," she says. "My claim to fame is I always do my own driving. I was on 'Top Gear', and I did my lap in a very good time. So I keep putting it out there."
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