\n\tIn the cutthroat world of art auctions, where a single painting can reap millions in commissions for powerhouse institutions like Christie\u2019s or Sotheby\u2019s, there\u2019s little room for error and perhaps even less room for ethics.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s all the more surprising, then, that French writer-director Pascal Bonitzer\u2019s new feature, Auction (Le tableau vol\u00e9au), is a true art world story in which human virtue somehow manages to prevail, even if it takes a while for it to show its pretty face.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tAuction\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Bottom Line<\/p>\n
\tClever, if too comforting.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelease date: Wednesday, Oct. 29.
Cast: Alex Lutz, L\u00e9a Drucker, Nora Hamzawi, Louise Chevillotte, Arcadi Radeff, Laurence C\u00f4te, Alain Chamfort, Olivier Rabourdin
Director, screenwriter: Pascal Bonitzer
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 31 minutes\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\tSet in a shark tank of lawyers, heirs, experts and auctioneers circling a prized painting uncovered in the home of a blue-collar family, this trenchant dramedy shows that Bonitzer, who penned scripts for the likes of Jacques Rivette and Andr\u00e9 T\u00e9chin\u00e9, still has a knack for cutting dialogue and unexpected turnarounds. Not everything on screen ultimately works here, with certain characters and situations more credible than others. But the director manages to spin a clever modern-day morality tale mixing art, social class and big bucks.<\/p>\n
\n\tMuch of the action is centered on Andr\u00e9 (Alex Lutz), a passionate commissaire-priseur at the fictional yet realistic Scottie\u2019s auction house in Paris. In the opening scene, we see Andr\u00e9 slickly dealing with the racist legatee of a million-Euro painting he\u2019s hoping to sell, ignoring the woman\u2019s diatribes to nab a hefty commission for himself.<\/p>\n
\n\tAndr\u00e9 appears to be ruthless and, in many ways, he is, conniving against other auctioneers for one of Scottie\u2019s top spots while constantly talking down to his assistant, Aurore (Louise Chevillotte), who reveals herself to have as sharp a tongue as her boss.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd yet when it comes to the discovery of Egon Schiele\u2019s long lost 1914 work, Wilted Sunflowers, which is found by a young factory worker, Martin (Arcadi Radeff), in the attic of his modest house, Andr\u00e9 shows that he can be both deft and thoughtful.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe painting has a long, troubled history: It was bought by an Austrian Jewish collector, who was forced to hand it over to the Nazis before fleeing to the U.S during WWII. Then it somehow made its way to the working-class French city of Mulhouse, where it was sitting untouched for decades until Martin and his mother (Laurence C\u00f4te) dug it up among the belongings of their home\u2019s previous owner, who has a rocky past himself.<\/p>\n