Claes Bang

Elizabeth Debicki

Mick Jagger

Donald Sutherland

Rosalind Halstead

Alessandro Fabrizi

Flaminia Fegarotti

Gabriele Forte

Giuseppe Capotondi

David Zander

Peter Touche

Charles Willeford

Sienna Aquilini

Scott B. Smith

David Lancaster

William Horberg

David Ungaro

Guido Notari

Craig Armstrong

Totoi Santoro

Antonio Tirinelli

Gianluca Basili

Gabriella Pescucci

Jon Shiffman

August Zander

Alastair Burlingham

Aeysha Walsh

Stephanie Wilcox

Laura Katz

Benedetto Habib

Jonathan Loughran

Luca Padrini

Alessandro Bigoni

Vaishali Mistry

Stefano Biraghi

Arianna Dolini

Dante Ariola

Daniel Campos Pavoncelli

Peter Watson

Matteo Barletta

Carlo Segantini

Charlie Dombek

Fabrizio Donvito

Alessandro Mascheroni

Aris Boletsis

Marie-Gabrielle Stewart

Marco Cohen

Inti Carboni

Roberta Butti

Enrico Marchesan

Marco Pirino

Stefano Fois

Giandomenico Petillo

Uliva Pizzetti

Carlo Febbraro

Silvia Acquapendente

Monica Verzolini

Marzia Cordò

Stefano Picciarelli

Franco Rosignoli

Caroline Clements

Samankta Mura

Nicolò Primo

Danilo Capuzi

Alessandro Boscolo

Maria Boikowa

Dario Stucchi

Davide Piastra

Marzio Bardi

Marco Scorpiade

Andrea Trisolino

Sara Gomarasca

Yuri Carboni

Francesco Saccani

Sergio Basili

Marco Pancrazi

Ambra Principato

Fabio Aneto

Max Limo

Andrea Rostellato

Antonio Cirelli

Filippo Negrello

Eleonora Cao

Daniela Bassani

Emiliano Pallassini

Bruno Falconi

Lorenzo Ciarlantini

Massimo Rocchi

José Haro

Gianluca Gorga

Cristiano Delogu

Gianni Pallotto

Katia Sisto

Andrea Foletti

Manuela Spartà

Daniele Cipriani

Mystery

Thriller

Crime

The Burnt Orange Heresy

Rumble Films

Wonderful Films

Indiana Production

Italy

United States of America

The Burnt Orange Heresy feels like it wants to do for painting what The Ninth Gate did for books. The problem is that there were books in Polanski’s film, and not just mere props, but objets d'art in their own right. In contrast, there’s precious little painting in this movie; in fact, there’s literally less than meets the eye.

James Figueras (Claes Bang) is nominally an art critic, but sounds more like a shill. He has written a book called The Power of the Critic, and gives lectures about, well, the power of the critic. In one such lecture he resorts to "an oratorical gesture": a cock-and-bull story about a tortured Norwegian artists who, haunted by the portraits of Nazi officers he was forced to paint in a concentration camp, swore never to touch a brush again and took up finger painting. 

The anecdote is so far-fetched that we know it to be a crock five seconds before James admits as much, but the point is that "because of what I, as a critic and an expert, have shared with you ... I have shaped your experience of this painting ... I single-handedly made you believe that this [a non-descript painting that James himself "slapped down without any real care or inspiration"] was a masterpiece."

Now, all James did was appeal to his audience’s emotions. His spiel, made up or not, provided no objective insight, no "expert" opinion. Wouldn’t his case for the power of the critic have been more convincing if he had produced in-depth arguments on technique, style, composition, etc., instead of feeding his listeners a sob story whose power lies in the telling and not in the teller, thus rendering James’s status as art critic moot? Perhaps he should have titled his book The Power of Rhetoric.

Having said all that, it’s safe to say that James is actually meant to be a hack (no problem there; my beef is with how transparent of a hack he is). That talking up one’s own sense of power is a sign of weakness is a irony that’s lost on the character, but not necessarily on the filmmakers, who make James an embezzling pillhead; in that sense, his bragging about a power he doesn’t really have makes sense when we see it as typical junky behavior — not much different than when he says "I can end it [his pill-taking habit] ... I'm just waiting for the right moment." 

Unfortunately, this is about the only thing the filmmakers get right. The movie’s downfall begins with the introduction of wealthy art collector Joseph Cassidy (Mick Jagger fidgeting like he’d rather be anywhere else), who sits on the board of "The Debney Trust;" in that capacity, he is "to offer the great man accommodations" — the great man being reclusive painter Jerome Debney (Donald Sutherland).

Debney lives in "dilapidated little house ... at the edge of [Cassidy’s] property," but cares little or nothing for his host, routinely rejecting Cassidy’s daily invitation to join him for lunch. Cassidy recruits James to "procure" him a Debney painting in exchange for an exclusive interview with "the great man"; the way Cassidy pitches this to James is half bribe, half blackmail, and full nonsense.

Clearly, Cassidy has never heard of the whole 'if the mountain won't come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain' thing; what exactly it is that impedes him from going himself to the dilapidated little house and dealing directly with Debney shall remain an unfathomable mystery, equal to the riddle of why doesn’t the rich man doesn’t even attempt to bribe, not James but Debney, with something other than lunch. It shouldn’t be too hard to ply the geezer with money or some other substantial offering (Debney does confess to a weakness for a "local widow"); this is the same man, after all, who has a "charitable trust" named after him. Moreover, it will become apparent that what Cassidy wants is an art thief, rather than an art critic (insofar as James can be said to be one).

In Cassidy’s defense, though, Debney turns out to be crazier than a s--thouse rat, and as James is bound to discover, there is a powerful reason that Cassidy can’t get his hands on Debney’s work — and by 'powerful,' I mean 'really, really stupid;' I won’t reveal it, but suffice it to say that it’s even dumber than the Norwegian finger painter stuff.

English

The Burnt Orange Heresy | Official Trailer (2020)

THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY Director Intro | TIFF 2019

THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY Cast and Crew Q&A | TIFF 2019