THE LAST VERMEER
****
Director: Dan Friedkin
Screenplay: James McGee, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, based a novel by Jonathan Lopez.
Principal cast:
Guy Pearce
Claes Bang
Vicky Krieps
Roland Møller
August Diehl
Olivia Grant
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 118 mins.
Australian release date: 25 March 2021.
There seems to be something about art films that attracts the excellent Danish actor Claes Bang. Since 2017, he has made three films set in the big money world of galleries and artists: The Square, The Burnt Orange Heresy and The Last Vermeer. Although the latter two were made in the same year, 2019, COVID-related release-date changes meant that only now are we getting to see The Last Vermeer. Adapted from a novel by Jonathan Lopez and directed by first-timer Dan Friedkin, Bang plays Lieutenant Joseph Piller, a Dutch army officer investigating the acquisition (or theft) of valuable artworks by the Nazis during the Second World War. In this instance, his case revolves around a work by the renowned Dutch Baroque painter, Johannes Vermeer, who painted scenes of middle-class domesticity in the 17th century. History tells us (the film is based on truth) that Hermann Göring, the high-ranking Nazi, purchased a rare Vermeer from a Dutch dealer. Vermeer was not a prolific artist, so the acquisition was considered a coup by the German and he paid an astronomical price for it.
At the end of the war, in May 1945, Allied troops were stationed in the Netherlands as part of the restoration effort. Piller, a Jew who’d fought in the Resistance, is part of a team whose job it is to find out how a number of great artworks that have been recovered had wound up in the hands of the Third Reich (“Which proves that sometimes pigs can have good taste”, says one of the protagonists). Had they been stolen or sold for gain, thus profiting from the Occupation, a crime tantamount to collaboration with the enemy and punishable by death? The Vermeer had been sold to Göring by Han van Meergeren (a fantastic performance from Guy Pearce), a prominent, flamboyant Dutch art dealer and amateur painter, but he is being rather coy about the details of the sale. As the circumstances of the Vermeer’s acquisition become more apparent, Piller begins to think that there is more to the story than meets the eye but the Dutch authorities will hear none of it. Van Meergeren is accused of being complicit with the Nazis by disposing of his country’s valuable art treasures and ends up in court on a charge that would mean his immediate execution if found guilty (there are a couple of scenes in the film that show people being summarily shot in the street for collaborating). Piller and his assistant, art historian Minna (Vicky Krieps), must follow van Meegeren’s clues to try and discover the truth of the matter before it is too late.
The Last Vermeer is an interesting film for a number of reasons: it is primarily a true story that is not widely known (at least outside of The Netherlands); it is a beautiful representation of the post-war period, including excellent production values; it features a lovely score by the Swedish composer Johan Söderqvist; and it has Aussie actor Guy Pearce. His portrayal of the flashy, louche van Meegeren is a joy to behold. He almost pushes it too far but knows just when to pull the performance back in, to prevent it from going completely over the top. Bang is solid as the rigid ex-Resistance fighter who sees the world in black and white until he comes up against the slippery morals of the art dealer and suddenly has to recognise that there is more than one way of looking at ‘the truth’.
“The heartbeat of The Last Vermeer is the question of, what is art…” says co-producer and debutante director Dan Friedkin. “People can create convenient answers for that. And sometimes, it’s a moral consideration or a decision that impacts the value of art. I was fascinated with that, and these are issues that are personal to me and which I’ve been thinking about and deliberating over for a long time. Joseph Piller is trying to determine what’s right or wrong, and Han van Meegeren contains another layer that is specific to him, and [the film] all stems from those undercurrents.”
Screenplay: James McGee, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, based a novel by Jonathan Lopez.
Principal cast:
Guy Pearce
Claes Bang
Vicky Krieps
Roland Møller
August Diehl
Olivia Grant
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 118 mins.
Australian release date: 25 March 2021.
There seems to be something about art films that attracts the excellent Danish actor Claes Bang. Since 2017, he has made three films set in the big money world of galleries and artists: The Square, The Burnt Orange Heresy and The Last Vermeer. Although the latter two were made in the same year, 2019, COVID-related release-date changes meant that only now are we getting to see The Last Vermeer. Adapted from a novel by Jonathan Lopez and directed by first-timer Dan Friedkin, Bang plays Lieutenant Joseph Piller, a Dutch army officer investigating the acquisition (or theft) of valuable artworks by the Nazis during the Second World War. In this instance, his case revolves around a work by the renowned Dutch Baroque painter, Johannes Vermeer, who painted scenes of middle-class domesticity in the 17th century. History tells us (the film is based on truth) that Hermann Göring, the high-ranking Nazi, purchased a rare Vermeer from a Dutch dealer. Vermeer was not a prolific artist, so the acquisition was considered a coup by the German and he paid an astronomical price for it.
At the end of the war, in May 1945, Allied troops were stationed in the Netherlands as part of the restoration effort. Piller, a Jew who’d fought in the Resistance, is part of a team whose job it is to find out how a number of great artworks that have been recovered had wound up in the hands of the Third Reich (“Which proves that sometimes pigs can have good taste”, says one of the protagonists). Had they been stolen or sold for gain, thus profiting from the Occupation, a crime tantamount to collaboration with the enemy and punishable by death? The Vermeer had been sold to Göring by Han van Meergeren (a fantastic performance from Guy Pearce), a prominent, flamboyant Dutch art dealer and amateur painter, but he is being rather coy about the details of the sale. As the circumstances of the Vermeer’s acquisition become more apparent, Piller begins to think that there is more to the story than meets the eye but the Dutch authorities will hear none of it. Van Meergeren is accused of being complicit with the Nazis by disposing of his country’s valuable art treasures and ends up in court on a charge that would mean his immediate execution if found guilty (there are a couple of scenes in the film that show people being summarily shot in the street for collaborating). Piller and his assistant, art historian Minna (Vicky Krieps), must follow van Meegeren’s clues to try and discover the truth of the matter before it is too late.
The Last Vermeer is an interesting film for a number of reasons: it is primarily a true story that is not widely known (at least outside of The Netherlands); it is a beautiful representation of the post-war period, including excellent production values; it features a lovely score by the Swedish composer Johan Söderqvist; and it has Aussie actor Guy Pearce. His portrayal of the flashy, louche van Meegeren is a joy to behold. He almost pushes it too far but knows just when to pull the performance back in, to prevent it from going completely over the top. Bang is solid as the rigid ex-Resistance fighter who sees the world in black and white until he comes up against the slippery morals of the art dealer and suddenly has to recognise that there is more than one way of looking at ‘the truth’.
“The heartbeat of The Last Vermeer is the question of, what is art…” says co-producer and debutante director Dan Friedkin. “People can create convenient answers for that. And sometimes, it’s a moral consideration or a decision that impacts the value of art. I was fascinated with that, and these are issues that are personal to me and which I’ve been thinking about and deliberating over for a long time. Joseph Piller is trying to determine what’s right or wrong, and Han van Meegeren contains another layer that is specific to him, and [the film] all stems from those undercurrents.”