Starring Helen Mirren. Rated G.

Based on true events, Woman in Gold tells the story of Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren). The daughter of a prominent Jewish family, Maria is forced to flee Nazi-occupied Austria as a young newlywed. Flash forward to the 1990s and she’s an elderly widow living a quiet life in California. But beneath her clipped manner and dry sense of humour, Maria is haunted by the life of love, family, and privilege she left behind.

Having lost most of her relatives to the Holocaust, Maria has no family left. She does, however, have a bittersweet reminder of her previous life—a priceless portrait of her aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, that was stolen from the walls of the family home by the Nazis. Painted by Gustav Klimt, the portrait soon found a permanent home in a Vienna gallery. One character in the film sums up the painting’s national importance by referring to it as “the Mona Lisa of Austria”.

When Maria finds some documents in her late sister’s personal effects, she begins to wonder if it might be possible to legally reclaim her painting from the Austrian government. She contacts lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds). A young family man struggling to get a foothold in his career, he reluctantly agrees to do some digging.

What inevitably emerges is a piece of family history that’s both tragic and extremely touching. Director Simon Curtis does a masterful job of alternating between the past and the present, seamlessly slipping in glimpses of Maria’s emotionally rich childhood. The past makes her stubborn search for vindication seem all the more plausible.

The ensemble that portrays the Altmann family in 1930s Vienna does an extraordinary job of conveying the bond that continues to drive Maria. But it’s the lovingly sly chemistry between Mirren and Reynolds that supplies the film with its true heart. As a young American discovering the impact of his Jewish-Austrian heritage, Reynolds gives one of the best performances of his career. And it’s a genuine pleasure to see Mirren’s Maria gradually open up to her adventurous side as they fight for a small slice of justice.