Set in Italy but filmed in English, "The Best Offer" is a highly unusual and unusually interesting tale of two lost and hurting souls reaching out to one another for meaning and salvation. Or at least that's what it wants you to THINK it's about. What it's ACTUALLY about may be something else again.
A self-described "old man incapable of love," the allegorically named Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush) has kept pretty much the entire world - women included - at arm's-length for his entire life. He's a renowned, if not entirely scrupulous, art appraiser and auctioneer who has his entire mode of existence turned upside down when he meets a mysterious young woman named Claire (Silvia Hoeks) who pleads with him to come appraise the belongings in her home upon the death of her wealthy parents. The problem is that Claire, who has been a recluse since the age of 16, seems to be suffering from a severe case of Agoraphobia and will speak with Virgil only through a wall in the house. Dismissive, even irritated at first, Virgil soon becomes obsessed with the faceless, disembodied voice that floats to him through the dusky halls of a lonely villa.
Virgil is so emotionally cut off from the world around him that, despite the fact that he is physically able to come and go, he is just as much a prisoner of his life as Claire is of her disease and of the decaying mansion in which she's chosen to entomb herself. Is Claire the unexpected someone who will finally provide that meaningful human connection that Virgil has avoided all this time? Or is she merely the vehicle through which he will finally be made to pay for the many professional transgressions he's committed over the course of his lifetime?
Rush carries almost the entire weight of this film on his shoulders, and he certainly shows he has the acting chops to see it through. Since Hoeks is largely off-screen for large portions of the movie, her task is a somewhat less arduous one, though her accomplishment is no less impressive for that. Jim Sturgess and Donald Sutherland are also effective in smaller, yet highly significant, roles in the drama.
With a smart screenplay and lyrical direction by Giuseppe Tornatore, "The Best Offer" is a haunting, mesmerizing film that draws you into its world and keeps you guessing every step of the way till the big reveal at the end.
A self-described "old man incapable of love," the allegorically named Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush) has kept pretty much the entire world - women included - at arm's-length for his entire life. He's a renowned, if not entirely scrupulous, art appraiser and auctioneer who has his entire mode of existence turned upside down when he meets a mysterious young woman named Claire (Silvia Hoeks) who pleads with him to come appraise the belongings in her home upon the death of her wealthy parents. The problem is that Claire, who has been a recluse since the age of 16, seems to be suffering from a severe case of Agoraphobia and will speak with Virgil only through a wall in the house. Dismissive, even irritated at first, Virgil soon becomes obsessed with the faceless, disembodied voice that floats to him through the dusky halls of a lonely villa.
Virgil is so emotionally cut off from the world around him that, despite the fact that he is physically able to come and go, he is just as much a prisoner of his life as Claire is of her disease and of the decaying mansion in which she's chosen to entomb herself. Is Claire the unexpected someone who will finally provide that meaningful human connection that Virgil has avoided all this time? Or is she merely the vehicle through which he will finally be made to pay for the many professional transgressions he's committed over the course of his lifetime?
Rush carries almost the entire weight of this film on his shoulders, and he certainly shows he has the acting chops to see it through. Since Hoeks is largely off-screen for large portions of the movie, her task is a somewhat less arduous one, though her accomplishment is no less impressive for that. Jim Sturgess and Donald Sutherland are also effective in smaller, yet highly significant, roles in the drama.
With a smart screenplay and lyrical direction by Giuseppe Tornatore, "The Best Offer" is a haunting, mesmerizing film that draws you into its world and keeps you guessing every step of the way till the big reveal at the end.