Mirren continues her winning streak of excellent performances

Rating: 8/10 (4 April 2015)

WOMAN IN GOLD (2015) *** Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Katie Holmes, Charles Dance, Tatiana Maslany, Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth McGovern, Frances Fisher, Jonathan Pryce, Tom Schilling. Mirren continues her winning streak of excellent performances in this based on fact account of Maria Altmann, an Austrian Jewish expat who enlists green attorney Reynolds (who acquits himself nicely if a tad too low key) to get back what is rightfully hers from her homeland government : priceless Klimt artwork including the titular portrait of her beloved aunt. Director Simon Curtis makes the best of the paint-by-numbers script by Alexi Kaye Campbell (based on Altmann's memoir) and wisely allows the flashbacks to do the heavy lifting of what exactly is at cost here.