The Last Vermeer

The war ends and confiscated works of art are being gathered back in the Netherlands. Joseph Piller was in the resistance; now he is on the team doing this work. A Vermeer turns up in Göring's collection and the trail leads to a man: Han van Meegeren. He is a painter, known in society, and lived comfortably through the war. He is charged with collaboration; the penalty is death. In his defence van Meegeren says something unexpected: he did not sell the painting to the Germans, he painted it himself. So it is not treason but forgery. He has to prove it, and the only way is to make a new Vermeer in the courtroom. Dan Friedkin directs. Guy Pearce plays van Meegeren and Claes Bang plays Piller; Vicky Krieps is in the cast. The events are real; Han van Meegeren was among the best known art forgers of the twentieth century and the trial drew great attention in the Netherlands. Van Meegeren used a particular method to age his paintings; he mixed resin into the paint and baked it, which let the work pass chemical tests. The matter it treats is expertise itself; the same experts first authenticated the painting and then had to declare it false. The film proceeds in the shape of a courtroom drama and its last section takes place entirely at the trial. Guy Pearce's performance carries the picture and does not make the character sympathetic. Its limit is structure; the first half moves slowly as an investigation and some supporting characters are functionless. Who it is for: viewers who like courtroom drama drawn from real events and subjects from art history. Who it is not for: the pace is uneven, the romance unnecessary, and the historical detail simplified.