Woman In Gold (2015) * * *

Directed by:  Simon Curtis

Starring:  Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Bruhl, Tatiana Maslany, Katie Holmes, Max Irons, Charles Dance

Woman In Gold combines two inherently suspenseful genres (courtroom drama and Nazi occupation drama) into an entertaining film with good performances.      It doesn't cross over into greatness, mostly because we wonder in the end why Maria Altmann (Mirren) didn't just settle with the Austrian government and save herself the heartache of a protracted court case that took years to settle.    You will know what leads us to that question when you read the epilogue.    

The film opens in 1998.   Maria, owner of a Los Angeles boutique, attends the funeral of her sister and decides to pursue the painting of her aunt Adele which was stolen by the Nazis upon Germany's occupation of Austria.    She hires attorney Randy Schoenberg (Reynolds), who is the son of a friend and the grandson of the famed composer August Schoenberg.     They travel to Austria to persude the government to release the painting to her, which is denied since it is now housed in the nation's most famous art museum.    "It is our national pride," says one government official.     With the help of investigative journalist Hubertus Czernin (Bruhl), they uncover proof to back Maria's claims of family ownership.    This leads to a lengthy battle with Austria to win back the rights of the painting.

Maria's story flashes between the endless legal wranglings and the story of her escape from Austria.    Being from a rich, Jewish family, she is forced to flee with her husband and leave her ailing parents behind.    This is handled in a poignant and suspenseful way.    Randy's story is more geared toward regaining self-respect after a failed attempt at striking out on his own with his own firm.   

Mirren is wonderful here because she does not play Maria as a self-righteous, inflexible bore.   She wants the painting returned to her so she can be free to do what she wants with it; a choice denied to her by the Nazis.    She also has moments in which she just wants to give up because the battle seems lost, but finds the strength to fight on.   It is refreshing to see a movie heroine experience glimpses of doubt and regret in the quiet moments.    I normally find Ryan Reynolds to be an actor concealing his talent behind snark and insincerity.    He finds just the right notes as someone who wants to live up to the family legacy.    Snark is kept to a minimum.

Back to the beginning of my review, in which I asked why Maria didn't just settle with the Austrian government and let them hang the painting in their museum.    Does she just not want the Austrians to have it?   If memory serves, they offered her a nice settlement years earlier.    She could've saved herself a lot of legal fights.    Or did she realize that the $100 million price tag offered by a New York museum was too much to refuse?    Money sure has a way of clarifying your principles.