Woman In Gold * * *

As this is a true story you can easily learn of the outcome beforehand if you wish; but I would advise you not to.  There's nothing like a bit of suspense to keep you hanging in there.  (I adopted the same tactic when I saw Titanic, and what a surprise that turned out to be!)
Gustav Klimt is responsible for one of the most beautiful works of art ever - Woman In Gold. Also Known As Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.  
Sixty years ago The Nazi’s paid an unwelcome visit to one of many Jewish households in Vienna and seized the painting along with quite a few other personal possessions.
After the war the Austrian Government got it back and claimed it as theirs. In this story an ageing lady who fled from Vienna at the start of the Second World War  hires a struggling lawyer to help her reclaim the painting which she claims is hers. The Woman In Gold is her Aunt Adele.
It’s a bit of a David and Goliath story: Little old Jewish lady, Maria Altmann and her young lawyer, Randy Schoenberg,  taking on the government of Austria. So off Maria and Randy go to Vienna to receive a fairly cold reception and get duly whacked back to the U.S.A. from whence they came.
But their resilience and sense of injustice only increases and they return again with new ammunition - and so on.
The telling of this tale is very nicely paced.  They might get weary and despondent but we don’t. We remain keen to learn the outcome, especially as doubts creep in whether Maria has any sustainable legal claim at all.
The flashback scenes of Vienna and Maria's childhood; and the following years when the Nazis paid a visit to Austria are also well done. Her flight from Vienna effectively conveys the fear of that time.
Their unusual friendship is quite charming. Maria is an eccentric old lady with steely resolve and naive ideas on how the law works.  For Helen Mirren it demands she walk a fine line.  A character like this can easily slip into caricature and she does get dangerously close to that at times.  Mirren always performs well and she’s good in this, but it’s hardly her finest hour. Ryan Reynolds plays Randy Schoenberg the tenacious lawyer who assists her on this case. He is well cast and does a fine job. He is a young family man who puts everything at risk. Interestingly, Randy too is of prestige Austrian heritage. We learn his great, great, great Grandpops was the composer Schoenberg. Also impressive is Daniel Bruhl playing their confidant, help and adviser in Vienna.
There is more at stake here than who gets to keep a hundred-million dollar painting. Its monetary value is one thing  but it is regarded as “The Mona Lisa of Vienna" and a national treasure.   Yet it also hung on the wall of Maria’s home before the Nazis came to town.  It’s a difficult case, so to make it easy for us the film colours one party as "nasty" and one as "nice"
As usual, the court scenes in no way reflect reality with expedience and flawless speeches as opposed to adjournments, mumblings and multiple directions hearings.  They overcome some of the painful longevity of these cases by using subtitles - “Six Months Later” etc…
I won’t spoil the ending for you, but given the explicit wishes of the original owner I still wonder if the painting ended up where it should rightfully be. Either way, you can go and see the actual painting anytime you wish - it is not hidden away - and for that we should all be grateful to the winning side.  I don’t think the Nazis would have been so considerate of others.