Butler's Cinema Scene

Guy Pearce

“THE LAST VERMEER”  My rating: B-

117 minutes | MPAA rating: R

In “The Last Vermeer” Aussie Guy Pearce delivers a hugely entertaining performance as Han van Meergren, a charmingly decadent artiste and all-round roue in post-war Copehagen.

Oozing hedonistic hubris, intellectual arrogance and casual amorality through his Einstein-level frizzy gray hair and mustache, Pearce’s van Meergren is the center of attention whenever he appears on screen.

Which, sad to say, isn’t nearly often enough. For though he is arguably the most important character in
Dan Friedkin’s “The Last Vermeer” he — like Orson Welles’ Harry Lime in “The Third Man” — gets relatively little screen time.

The screenplay (credited to John Orloff, James McGee, Mark Fegus and Hawk Ostby…very nearly a case of too many cooks) is based on real events.

The Nazis have been defeated and Jospeh Piller (Claes Bang), a Dane who fled the occupation to fight in the Canadian army, has been assigned the task of tracking down art masterpieces stolen by the Germans. His job is to return these priceless objects to their rightful owners (in may cases Jewish families) and prosecute the  collaborators who made the pillaging possible.

A previously unknown Vermeer painting — recovered from a Berlin-bound train and intended for Herman Goering’s personal collection — sets Pillar on a quest.  He’s accompanied by thuggish aide Esper (Roland Moller) who provides muscle when it’s needed and by the investigative genius Minna (Vicky Krieps).

Their sleuthing leads them to van Meergren, a failed painter who was known to have partied with the Germans and who somehow became fabulously rich during the war — presumably by selling pilfered masterpieces to the enemy.   If that is indeed the case, van Meergren faces the death penalty. Collaborators are daily being executed in Copenhagen’s public squares.

Klaus Bang, Vicki  Krieps

But even as he starts building a case, Pillar is wracked with doubts about van Meergren’s complicity…so much so that he risks his own career to protect the aloof painter from a vindictive  Danish agent who would make short work of the bon vivant (August Diehl, in a 180-turnaround from his perf in last year’s “A Hidden Life”).

Here’s the thing: This isn’t really van Meergren’s story. It’s Pillar’s…and he’s not all that interesting.  Bang’s performance is studiously low-keyed, and the personal issues the screenwriters raise — Pillar’s Jewish heritage, a failing marriage, his infatuation with Minna — seem more like placeholders than essential plot points.

The film’s last quarter is devoted to van Meergren’s very public trial, which could mean the death penalty.  By this time, though, Pillar is so convinced of van Meergren’s innocence that he joins the defense team, hoping to prove that the accused is actually a genius and a patriot who, far from collaborating with the Krauts,  played them.

The film does feature a pretty great last-act revelation (at least for viewers not already aware of van Meergren’s story) that compensates for the screenplay’s forced construction.

This is the feature debut for director Friedkin, a billionaire businessman (The Friedkin Group, Gulf States Toyota Distributors) who previous produced films such as “The Square” and “All the Money in the World.” He shows real promise in his latest gig.

| Robert W. Butler