Greetings readers! Yet again, the On Demand station via my cable company has provided access to another currently released Independent film that was on my list to check in early 2014. As it DID manage to make it to a local theater but I never got out to see it, this was the opportunity I was hoping would occur. So, without further ado, I give you “The Best Offer”.
This is the first film I have personally seen by Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore (“The Legend of the 1900“, “Malena“) and I must say, what a way to introduce myself to his directing AND writing, being he was the primary on both tasks for this film. Set in Europe, we venture into the world of an eccentric and prestigious art appraiser and auctioneer Virgil Oldman (a MAGNIFICENT Geoffrey Rush), who has established himself as one of the premier authorities in his field, yet all while demonstrating his very self-serving and closed-off-to-the-world attitudes via his eating alone at a fancy restaurant while wearing gloves so as not to touch anything directly, to his overall lack of general ability to TRULY interact with people beyond his business and art auction dealings. He lives in a large home with everything placed JUST right, seemingly far too big a space for just himself, even revealing a large hidden room behind a locked vault door that is FILLED with portraits of women, apparently indicating that it is the ONLY way he seems to be connected with any at all. But, he seems to relish his lonely life (despite him seeing couples a lot and having a pained look saying otherwise), the only real friend he seems to have being Billy Whistler (veteran actor Donald Sutherland), whom we find places himself at the art auctions Virgil does in order to purposely bid on certain items that Virgil singles out for them, lying about who actually painted them, so Billy can buy the painting for a steal, and then the two split the profits of the actually high-value items. All of this, however, changes when we find that Virgil has been getting constant calls from a young woman, Claire (Netherlands-born Sylvia Hoeks), who is desperately trying to get Virgil to come to her recently deceased parent’s villa in order to appraise and sell of the massive collection of art and furniture left behind. His first attempt to meet her leads nowhere, MUCH to his anger, but she persists and FINALLY, Virgil is able to gain access to the villa via the housekeep, Fred (Phillip Jackson). As Virgil tries to get the affairs in order, all his contact with Claire continues to be over the phone, again MUCH to his frustration in doing business, until he figures out that she has actually BEEN in the house the whole time, sequestered behind a hidden door in an upstairs living room. Over time, Virgil is able to start speaking directly to Claire through the wall, and we find she has been living like this since 15, now being 27. As Virgil begins to try and find ways to make her reveal herself, he ends up confiding about the situation to a young tradesman in town, Robert (Jim Sturgess), who tries to coach Virgil on ways to get Claire to open up, both figuratively and literally, all while also helping Virgil piece together an 18th century device that Virgil has been finding pieces of randomly in the villa’s basement. Over time, Virgil finally manages to get his first glimpses of Claire (after a bit of deceit) but eventually comes to meet her and subsequently obsessed and enamored as well.
The relationship builds, though, despite several rough moments as we see Claire does not have the initial ability to cope with even the thought of going beyond the villa, much less dealing with the overwhelming reality of opening up to another person, as it is a challenge just to come out of her exile in the room she hides away in. Slowly, Virgil builds her trust, introducing her to several facets of life she has never had. And there is still the constant meeting up between Virgil and Robert, talking about the whole situation that is developing. The relationship between Virgil and Claire gets to an unexpected level, and then we start to see the effect it is having on everyone in Virgil’s life, much less on himself, especially evident when a circumstance occurs that really shines a light on how deep Virgil is in it. The circumstance that DOES finally get Claire away from the villa is rather unexpected too, and has an impact on the tone of the story. And interwoven in this tale, there is the periodic focus on the girl at the pub (Kiruna Stammell) down the way from the villa. And at that point, as the stories final act begins, is where we’re treated to one whopper of an ending, which to say anything about would totally ruin a SUPERB bit of writing on Tornatore’s part. As usual, I ain’t gonna say ANOTHER word.
Just a great piece of indie filmmaking, “The Best Offer” is given such an excellent infusion of life with Geoffrey Rush, who simply chews up scenery, and can do so without saying a WORD sometimes. His ability to make Virgil so despised at one point and then loved in another moment, broken then whole, then wholly broken, and do it so convincingly….just a remarkable actor. He has always had a certain manner in the roles he plays, and this is no exception. Jim Sturgess and Donald Sutherland do their part, though Sturgess gives us a particularly solid turn as Robert that becomes key to this story. Sylvia Hoeks, whom I have never seen in film until now, gives a very grounded and real performance as Claire, also being able to play a reclusive soul who has to be coaxed out of her shell and whose beauty can then be fully realized as her awareness of the world around her becomes greater and greater. Combine this with a perfectly fitting orchestral score by Italian composer Ennio Morricone and this film is an indie work of art to me. Now, I just have to comment briefly that there were a sequences in the film content-wise that would not have taken away from the film if they weren’t in there, but overall, this was just SO well done in every aspect.
As always, this is for YOUR consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
Permalink