Fantastic work from Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds in Women in Black isn’t quite enough to save Maria Altman’s fascinating true story from the awful screenplay in which it comes wrapped. More than fifty years after the end of the Holocaust, Maria (Mirren) and her inexperienced lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Reynolds) embark upon a major battle to have the artwork stolen by the Nazis returned to them. The journey takes them back to Maria’s hometown of Vienna, the bowels of the Austrian government, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Austrian Holocaust Memorial and back into the past through Maria’s memories.
Mirren plays Maria with a convincing German accent and all the overtones of a loveable Jewish grandmother. Anyone who knows anything about Jewish culture will appreciate her performance, which captures all the quirks and personality traits of strong Jewish women. Mirren’s performance, however, is let down by a screenplay dripping in clichés, awkward silences and repetition.
The ‘Woman In Gold’ of the title was one of the paintings stolen by the Nazis from the Bloch Bauers during the Holocaust. The woman of the painting is Adele Bloch Bauer, Maria’s aunt, and there’s a stunning scene in which Adele (Antje Traue) sits with a young Maria before the painting and discusses its likeness.
The scenes set in the 1930s and 40s are superbly filmed and beautifully acted. In particular, Tatiana Maslany shines as the young Maria Altman, then Maria Bloch Bauer. The beautiful classical score by Hans Zimmer pulls all the right emotional strings, and it’s almost a shame to return to the present tense. Although the scenes where the Nazis toss the Bloch Bauer apartment are a little heavy-handed, but the majority flashbacks scenes are handled beautifully, shot in desaturated colours and are a joy to watch. The perfectly capture the elegance of the lifestyle lived by Austrians before Holocaust.
All in all, the film has spectacular potential but is let down but the screenplay, which is contrived and unnatural. For a story so rich in beauty and passion, it’s a shame to lose the humanity of the film’s core moments to shoddy writing and careless turn of phrase.
Words by Yeal Brender
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