Woman in Gold

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There are three storylines in “Woman in Gold,” each in a different time period and each featuring Maria Altmann, whom Helen Mirren plays in adulthood, and whose aunt was the subject of Gustav Klimt’s most famous painting, “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.” In the storyline that sees Maria seated with her aunt as a child, the former regards the painting and comments on the abundance of gold-leaf detailing. “That’s just Klimt,” her aunt replies. “Look at my face.” It’s the film’s best quote, as it underscores the importance of seeing the subject in a work, amid much hullabaloo.

It’s a metaphor for the film’s central conflict, too, as the present-day Maria, an elderly woman who escaped Nazi-occupied Austria, is trying to get justice for her aunt, the woman within the gold, whose painting the Austrian government is withholding from Maria. The Nazis stole the painting from Maria’s family, and she seems the rightful heiress, but the tricky details require her to call on Randol (Ryan Reynolds), an attorney who takes a personal interest in the case.

Ever the all-American boy with increasingly limited range, Reynolds is surely the weak link amid an international cast, which also includes Katie Holmes, Max Irons and “Orphan Black” cast member Tatianna Maslany, who plays Maria in her teenage years as she attempts to flee her homeland. But more frustrating than Reynolds is “Woman in Gold’s” insistence on adhering so fully to a predictable narrative blueprint, which, given the movie’s many phases of “try, try again,” becomes awfully tedious.

And yet, thanks to the poignant tension of the movie’s wartime thread, and the continually reliable heft of Mirren’s enduring acting abilities, “Woman in Gold” achieves its goal, albeit intermittently, of hitting one square in the gut. Viewers might see through its plot machinations, and Maria’s outcome may feel like a belabored forgone conclusion, but it’s still one worth rooting for, bolstered by the notion that when it comes to minority justice, there’s no such thing as “good enough.”

“Woman in Gold”

PG-13

Two reels out of four

Now playing

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The Babadook

R

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One of the biggest indie hits of last year was this oddly-titled horror movie about a hermit mother and her eccentric young son, who live together in a creepy house. They’re all alone until the arrival of something called the Babadook, a shadowy demon who seems to emerge from a macabre pop-up book. Merging maternal struggles with classic horror, the film’s a small wonder of big scares. 

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