True Stories 34: 10s—Woman in Gold

Contrast last week’s look at war with this week’s look at, if you will, the aftermath of war. Completely different stories, textures… completely different films.

Woman in Gold [2015] by Alexi Kaye Campbell tells the true story of Maria Altmann, a woman in her 80s now living in California, who takes on the Austrian government to get back a painting that was pillaged by the Nazis from her parents. The painting’s name is the same as the title of the film, and it’s a renowned canvas by Gustav Klimt—perhaps, even, his most famous painting.

Altmann wants the painting back. It’s hanging in an Austrian gallery as the film starts but it belongs to her family. And when her sister dies and she finds letters revealing that her sister tried to petition the Austrian government to return the painting, she thinks she should do something about it.

Altmann has no love for Austria and the Austrian people, as she remembers—as a young girl—how she and her family, as Jews, were treated by the Austrians as Hitler rose to power. Her family worked to get out before the country was completely engulfed, but it wasn’t easy. So when she thinks that they’ve kept—and displayed as a proud artifact of their country—a painting that belongs to her family, she wants to do something about it.

She hires a young lawyer—an unlikely match for her—to help plead the case to the Austrians, but he has a hard time convincing his firm to take on the case. And she and the lawyer are a bit of a mismatch. While it’s common for people in a romantic comedy to seem super-different at the beginning—and we enjoy watching them come together in the end—Woman in Gold is a good example of how that push-pull relationship can work really well to keep an audience engaged—even when there’s absolutely no romance involved.

Take a look at the trailer for the film: Woman In Gold Official Trailer

One of the other great things about this film is that it’s an impossible story. A little old lady suing the Austrian government??? And over a painting that, as one character says in the film, is the Austrian Mona Lisa—which makes us think that she has zero chance.

Another thing you can learn from this film is how you deal with the boring bits. Searching through archives, for example, is not exactly riveting on film—so watch how they do it.

I’ve seen this painting a couple of times [I won’t tell you where so as not to give away the ending of the film] and each time, while I’m dazzled by the painting, that feeling is even richer because I know the story behind the painting.

It’s important to remember that there’s a story behind almost everything. Your job as a writer is to find that story and see if it’s interesting enough to make a film about!

Next week the true story of pedophilia in the Catholic church, Spotlight.

Copyright © Diane Lake

22Jan23

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com