The Burnt Orange Heresy
An art-world thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith is a thing of elegance.
Not art for art's sake: Claes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki
What do you want? Something maybe that nobody desires as
much as you do? Jerome Debney has spent his life searching for the perfect
blue. He found it once, catching sight of the sky as he surfaced from a
swimming pool. And he has sought to recreate that blue ever since. Films about
passion, particularly such singular ones, make for fascinating drama. Indeed,
in the words of the art collector Joseph Cassidy, “a thing’s worth should never
obscure its value.”
Starting with all the confidence of a filmmaker with no need
to impress, Giuseppe Capotondi’s The Burnt
Orange Heresy – adapted from the novel by Charles Willeford – introduces us
to James Figueras (Claes Bang). Figueras is on his exercise bike in Milan rehearsing
a lecture, an event which we are shortly privy to. Then, in front of an
attentive audience, he explains the value of an abstract work with an
intriguing back story. Figueras is an art critic with a speciality in the
brushstrokes of Modigliani, among other things – but he is tiring of the
lecture circuit. He then meets Berenice (Elizabeth Debicki), they make out and
he invites her to meet Cassidy, with an eye to securing an interview with
Debney, the J.D. Salinger of the art world.
It is a rare thing to find a film that is self-assured
enough to be what it is. Here, the Italian director Giuseppe Capotondi offers
no tricks, no insistent music, no unnecessary exposition or flashbacks. With
its duelling arguments on art, a soundtrack of Handel, Mozart and Tartini, the
stunning environs of Lombardy and the elegant, poised presence of Debicki, the
world of The Burnt Orange Heresy is a
sybaritic pleasure. It is Debicki, as an American tourist, who proves to be the
fly in the ointment – but only because her life doesn’t depend on art.
Following a one-night stand with Figueras, she is invited to
stay at Cassidy’s palatial home, a villa perched on the edge of Lake Como.
Cassidy has a Rothko hung modestly beside the mantelpiece – partially obscured
by objets d’art – and to emphasize his English eccentricity, he is played by
Mick Jagger (quite effectively, as it happens). And to complete the
accomplished quartet, Donald Sutherland pops up in a delicious turn as Debney, dispensing
wisdom as only an 84-year-old icon can.
But Claes Bang is our leading man. He made his name in the Palme
d'Or-winning The Square (2017) and
cemented it with the title role in Netflix’s Dracula. Now he taps into the smarmy charisma of Pierce Brosnan,
who played another art world slickster in The
Thomas Crown Affair. James Figueras is bright and charming, but he is also
ambitious – and unscrupulous. He has spent his life searching for the perfect
ruse and as the film dips into Patricia Highsmith territory, Figueras abuses
his position and those who trust him…
As a thriller, The
Burnt Orange Heresy – named after a Debney work – earns its right to shock
and it does so with genteel expertise.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Claes Bang,
Elizabeth Debicki, Mick Jagger, Donald Sutherland, Rosalind Halstead,
Alessandro Fabrizi.
Dir Giuseppe Capotondi,
Pro William Horberg, David Lancaster
and David Zander, Screenplay Scott
Smith, from the novel by Charles Willeford, Ph
David Ungaro, Pro Des Totoi Santoro, Ed Guido Notari, Music Craig Armstrong, Costumes
Gabriella Pescucci, Dialect coach
Tanera Marshall.
Indiana Production/MJZ/Rumble Films/Wonderful Films/HanWay Films/Ingenious-Sony Pictures.
98 mins. USA/Italy. 2019. Rel: 30 October 2020. Cert. 15.