Woman in Gold

This review may contain spoilers!

In this film Ryan Reynolds says "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a moment in history" and after watching the feature I could not agree more. I would give Woman in Gold a 9/10.

This film is a brilliant exploration of the Jewish victims of Nazism, this is the kind of historical portrayal that made 12 Years a Slave such a moving thing to watch. This film fantastically deals with a blend of Austria wracked by Nazism in the past and the intense adventure to reclaim stolen art in the present. The film moves with some great pacing and the story constantly knows how to portray the emotions of the scenes. The cinematography was beautiful and really paid attention to detail; while the editing meant that the colouring for the scenes in the past was perfectly toned. The musical score was really moving, with a very intense and fluctuating pitch.

Helen Mirren, who played Maria Altmann, was a powerful performance to watch; the incredible range of emotion that Mirren displays really made the film engaging throughout. Daniel Bruhl, who played Hubertus Czernin, was a very modest role with a lot of strength behind it; Bruhl creates a fighter for justice that you really come to admire. Antje Traue, who played Adele Bloch-Bauer, was a moving performance; you really came to see why she was this massive role model figure within the film. Allan Corduner, who played Gustav Bloch-Bauer, was a fantastic father figure; his compassion and strength was a powerful thing to watch.

However the best performance of the cast came from Ryan Reynolds, who played Randol Schoenberg. It's true that at first Reynolds took a while to outshine the rest of the cast, his performance was very matter of fact and restrained. But it evolved fantastically, his break down at the memorial triggered this. Suddenly the character was full of care and earnest. Reynolds captured someone who rallied and fought and became consumed with finding justice. This is probably one of my favourite performances by the actor to date.

If I were to say something negative about the film it is that some of the scenes within this film felt a bit unnecessary.

Katie Holmes, who played Pam, had very little to do within this film and lacked screen presence. Tatiana Maslany, who played Young Maria Altmann, was a very rigid performance; she didn't muster up the same kind of emotional range as Mirren did in the same role. Max Irons, who played Fritz, felt very much like a character in the background; the fact that the fate of his character was never mentioned shows how little his character mattered. Charles Dance, who played Sherman, was just yet another character that lacked screen presence; he felt like he had no power or purpose in the film.