South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Showy courtroom drama saps mystery from tale of stolen art
The true story ofDutch artistHan vanMeegeren is awild one. But don’t check Wikipedia before you watch the filmed version of thisWorldWar II story, “The LastVermeer,” based on the book “TheMan WhoMadeVermeers” by Jonathan Lopez.
“The LastVermeer” is the directorial debut of producer and stunt pilot Dan Friedkin, the screenplay adapted by James McGee, MarkFergus and HawkOstby. To inject some suspense out of the tale, the writers have taken vanMeegeren’s story and wrapped it inside aNazi art investigation that morphs into a showycourtroom drama. It’s awell-trodden generic tactic, but one that saps all the life from this tale. It relegates all the salaciouswartime details to flashback andmemory, sidelining the ostentatious vanMeegeren (played by GuyPearce), to foreground stoic Allied officer and former DutchResistance member, Captain Joseph Piller (ClaesBang), as the unproblematic protagonist.
During the rocky transition fromNazi occupation after the Allied liberation of Europe and fall of Hitler inMay 1945, Piller is tasked with sorting out the precious artworks seized fromNazi officers. Of particular interest is a priceless painting by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, “Christ and the Adulteress,” whichwas obtained byNazi bigwig Hermann Goering for a hefty sum. Hunting down collaborators, Piller tracks downHan vanMeegeren, an erstwhile artist, art dealer and bon vivant.
The artist swears his own innocence, but Piller imprisons him in a gallery attic while he tracks down his various other close confidants to deducewho soldwhat to whom. Was Goering merely a fan of Dutch GoldenAge painting, orwas he competitive with Hitler? Was the expensive artwork a guise for laundering money? Is this particular painting worth anything, andwhois the arbiter of that value?
“The LastVermeer” is handsomely shot by RemiAdefarasin, and sumptuously production designed by ArthurMax, whocrafted the rich, plush interiors upon which the investigation plays out. There’s plenty of material for an exploration of the ethical complications of life in an occupied country, something that deeply troubles Piller at home and atwork. Not tomention the philosophical conversations about the valuation of art, a topic upon which vanMeegeren, the critically derided artist, expounds at length.
But for a film that is built on layers of lies, the script makes almost no effort to conceal or reveal information. All that text is right there on the surface; therefore, there’s barely a shred ofmystery. The only questionworth pursuing is where allegiances lie, a quandary that bedevils the blandly heroic Piller, aman whose only crumb of characterization is that he’s a “Dutch Jewin a Canadian uniform.”
The film capably, if expectedly, proceeds downthis standard procedural path, progressing frominvestigation to trial, with flourishes of genius every nowand again fromPearce, having some campy fun as van Meegeren. But evenwith a fewcourtroomtheatrics and some profound ethical issues to chew on, “The LastVermeer” is ultimately a dreadfully milquetoast outing.
MPAArating: Rated Rfor some language, violence and nudity. 1:57.