How DO you solve a problem like Maria? If you’re Austria, you do it in court. This is a movie that shouldn’t work. It’s overly sentimental, it doesn’t quite seem to know what kind of film it wants to be, and we essentially know from the beginning of the film how it will end. And yet I found myself completely engrossed and often moved by it. The story itself is fascinating—Maria Altman was a young Jewish woman when she fled from Nazi Germany to the U.S., leaving behind her family’s fortune, including a Stradivarian cello, and—more importantly—a painting of her aunt by the artist Gustav Klimt. The painting was stolen by the Nazis, and eventually became known as “Woman in Gold,” since they whitewashed all hint of Aunt Adele’s Jewish background. It came to rest in an Austrian gallery, where it eventually became a national icon. Some years back Austria, in a seemingly “no-lose” bit of public relations, announced an interest in art restitution, wanting to whitewash their own negative history, and give the appearance of trying to set things right. Of course, it was “no-lose” because it was the Austrians who got to decide whether or not they were going to let some of their greatest treasures go. Guess what they decided? (HINT: it would also mean having to admit that they acquired them all in very nasty, illegal, and immoral ways.) So enter young, inexperienced attorney Randol Schoeberg (grandson of famous Austrian composer Arnold, to whom he is constantly being compared), who Maria thinks is just the man who can help her achieve some measure of peace and justice for herself by taking on the Austrian government and getting the family painting returned.

The acting is very good. Not great, but very good. Hellen Mirren is solid, as always, as Maria, and Ryan Reynolds (Randol) shows that he can do something other than romantic comedies and superhero movies. (I’ve always liked him, to be honest, and think he often gets a lot more negative criticism than he deserves.) The nice things about the performances are the little touches. For example, Tatiana Maslany, playing a young Maria, gives the briefest of furtive glances at her home as she closes the door, knowing she is likely seeing it for the last time. You might not even notice it if you weren’t paying attention, but it was moments like that, that made these people real for me. I liked that it wasn’t the long, sighing pan of the room that we might be expecting. I believed that she was fleeing for her life, and yet trying to hold a memory of a part of that life as long as she could, even if only for one, last, split-second.

I know that some critics didn’t like the fact that the movie didn’t take an “identity.” At times it seemed as though it was a legal procedural, at times a historical thriller, at times a period piece, and sometimes just a straight-up drama. Usually that’s the kiss of death for me, but surprisingly, I didn’t mind. I actually liked the flashback sequences, as it helped to remind us of just what Austria was implicitly defending by refusing to return the portrait. Was it heavy-handed, with broad strokes? Did the Gestapo officer sneer outlandishly? A little, but I cut director Simon Curtis some slack, since he had very little time to tell that part of the story.

This film is likely to make my best of the year list. In a stronger year (like last year), probably not, but there hasn’t been much to speak of this year. The year is only half over with, though, so who knows? It is, as I said at the start, a film that is much more than the sum of its parts. I think if you go into it with reasonable expectations, you’ll enjoy yourself as much as I did. IMDB has it as a 7.5. I would wholeheartedly agree. It always makes for an interesting film when a Maria takes on the Nazis! (running time 1:49)