The Last Vermeer (2019)

Directed by: Dan Friedkin | 113 minutes | drama | Actors: Guy Pearce, Claes Bang, Vicky Krieps, Roland Møller, August Diehl, Karl Johnson, Andrew Havill, Paul Bentall, Olivia Grant, Adrian Scarborough, Marie Bach Hansen, Tom Mulheron, Cameron Jack, Susannah Doyle, Richard Dillane, Oliver Ryan

Art has been food for thought since time immemorial. When exactly does a creation get an art label? Who are the ones who determine such a thing? Is nothing art or is everything art? ‘The Last Vermeer’ asks such questions. It saves the film from mediocrity.

The screenplay of ‘The Last Vermeer’ is based on the book ‘The Man Who Made Vermeers’ by the American art historian Jonathan Lopez. It mainly revolves around the Dutch painter Han van Meegeren. During the Second World War, Van Meegeren amassed a fortune as an art dealer for the Nazis. In particular, the paintings by Johannes Vermeer, which he sold to Hermann Göring, among others, made him extremely wealthy. After the liberation, however, his happiness soon ended. He was arrested and convicted as a collaborator. His guilt was undisputed by many, but when it turned out that the paintings were forgeries of his own hand, great confusion arose. How guilty was he really?

The story about master forger Han van Meegeren has been told before, such as in 2016, when Jeroen Spitzenberger played him in ‘A real Vermeer’. While that film tried to outline his entire life story, ‘The Last Vermeer’ focuses mainly on his post-war days, and specifically: his plagiarism. This time it is actor Guy Pearce’s turn to play the role of Han van Meegeren. An Australian who interprets a Dutchman; is that wise? In Pearce’s case, we can speak of a pleasant surprise. The actor is doing well in the role of master forger.

When a film is based on a true story, a filmmaker always runs the risk of falling into the fiction vs reality trap. On the one hand, the director may want to be faithful to the facts of the story, on the other hand, he may want to play with the relevant history. In the case of ‘The Last Vermeer’, it’s clear that director Dan Friedkin has gone a little too far into the second. It is difficult to call his film a complete corruption, but it certainly takes the necessary creative liberties. In some scenes this results in a pleasant, bombastic or not spectacular spectacle (the court), but there are also scenes that seem forced and somewhat clumsy (the chase). For those who are not familiar with the story of Han van Meegeren, the changes will not be too bad, but connoisseurs and (art) historians will undoubtedly raise their eyebrows at some choices.

The scenes that are directly about art are more appealing. ‘The Last Vermeer’ brings up a number of interesting aspects about the value we attach to art. The theses about art critics are especially interesting, especially when they relate to the ever-changing consensus of the artistic movement. That this is conveyed by Guy Pearce makes it all the better. It is evident that Pearce is enjoying his role as Van Meegeren. When he talks about art, and it often does, his eyes light up and he beams like a little boy who has just found his ambition for acting. You don’t see the actor during these moments. You see Van Meegeren. Pearce is the master of his own forgery during these moments.