Woman in Gold

If you want a drama that takes its characters as seriously as its plot, Woman in Gold is available in Australia on Amazon Prime Video and Stan, and in the US on YouTube TV and Kanopy right now. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. A 7/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Watch it for Helen Mirren — one of the stronger performances out there right now. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Amazon Prime Video.

There is a reason Woman in Gold keeps coming up in conversation. Woman in Gold takes its time building the world its characters inhabit, and the patience pays off. Maria Altmann, an octogenarian Jewish refugee, takes on the government to recover artwork she believes rightfully belongs to her family. Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2015. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Viewers drawn to character-driven storytelling will find plenty to sit with in Woman in Gold. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Helen Mirren's work here is the kind that gets referenced in career retrospectives. It makes everything else feel thin by comparison.