Woman in Gold Page #3

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She holds it for a beat.

MARIA:

I’m glad you went for law and not

stand-up comedy.

RANDY:

You’re not alone there.

She reaches for a box, opens it, takes out a faded old

postcard of the Klimt portrait of Adele, hands it to him.

MARIA:

Here she is - my Aunt Adele,

painted by Gustav Klimt.

RANDY:

That’s quite a painting.

MARIA:

It’s magnificent. She was taken off

the wall of our home by the Nazis.

Since then, she has been hanging in

the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna.

RANDY:

And now you want to be reunited.

MARIA:

Wouldn’t that be lovely?

RANDY:

It would make you a rich woman, I’m

sure.

MARIA:

And you think that’s what it’s

about, do you?

Randy is slightly taken aback and admonished. With her hand

she indicates the many boxes that lay piled and scattered

across the room:
a family’s history. She picks up an old book

-a copy of the famous children’s stories Struwwelpeter - and

runs her hand across the cover. He notices the book.

MARIA (CONT’D)

I have to do what I can to keep the

memories alive. Because people

forget, you know. And then, there’s

justice.

And he catches something in her eyes - the memory of a long-

lost past and a long-forgotten wrong.

EXT. MARIA’S GARDEN. NIGHT.

Under the warm Californian night, Maria and Randy are sitting

in her garden. Randy is holding the postcard of Adele now;

Maria is holding the letters.

MARIA:

After the war they returned a

couple of paintings to us which

paid for my nephew’s education. But

we had to sign export permits to

relinquish any claims to the five

Klimts including that portrait of

my aunt.

RANDY:

Export permits?

MARIA:

The Klimts were deemed national

treasures so we weren’t allowed to

take them out of the country even

though they belonged to us. So we

signed them over.

RANDY:

Just like that?

MARIA:

We didn’t have the strength to

fight, we were just grateful to be

alive. All we wanted to do was

mourn our dead. And there was

another important reason we didn’t

contest it.

RANDY:

What was that?

MARIA:

We were told that Adele had left

the paintings to the Belvedere in

her will.

RANDY:

Had she?

MARIA:

We always thought so. Then I read

these letters.

And she puts them on the table. Randy picks them up, but once

again he throws a quick look at his watch.

EXT. MARIA’S FRONT YARD. NIGHT.

A few minutes later, Maria is walking Randy back to his car.

When they get there, she decides to give her verdict.

MARIA:

I am sorry to have wasted your

time. It was a test and we have

both failed.

He looks at her, doesn’t know what she means.

MARIA (CONT’D)

I have bored you to tears. Four

times you looked at your watch

tonight.

RANDY:

I got a new job today. I have a

baby that keeps me up at night, a

wife I want to make happy, several

financial institutions who’d like

my feet broken, and a plate of

couscous waiting at home.

MARIA:

So why would you be interested in

ancient history?

She takes the letters from his hand.

MARIA (CONT’D)

It’s great about the new job. And I

hope you succeed in making your

wife happy. Enjoy your couscous, my

dear.

He is about to get into the car, then stops.

RANDY:

Struwwelpeter.

She doesn’t understand.

RANDY (CONT’D)

That book you were holding. My

grandmother used to read those

stories to me. Terrifying. The one

with the boy who got swept away by

the wind...

MARIA:

Into a terrible adventure. I too,

found it frightening.

Something small happens; she returns the letters to him.

MARIA (CONT’D)

Just have a look and tell me if I

have a case. That’s all I want from

you.

INT. THE SCHOENBERGS’ BEDROOM. NIGHT.

Randy and Pam’s bedroom, like the rest of their house, is

small and too crowded; it’s obvious they’ve outgrown it.

Randy is lying in bed next to PAM, looking through the

letters.

PAM:

Read that one to me.

RANDY:

‘11th of April, 1948. Dear Luise

Bloch-Bauer,’ - that’s her sister -

‘the Austrian Government has

decided to return to you two of the

paintings which were unlawfully

taken from your family during Nazi

occupation.’

INT. MARIA’S BUNGALOW. NIGHT.

Maria goes from room to room, switching off the lights one by

one before she goes to bed. As the portrait of Adele is

mentioned we hover a little on the postcard of it which Maria

has placed leaning against some books in the dining room.

RANDY (V.O.)

‘This however comes with the full

understanding that they will hold

on to the Klimt portrait of your

aunt and the other four Klimts

which they insist were bequeathed

to the gallery in her will, a fact

which they claim as incontestible.’

INT. THE SCHOENBERGS’ BEDROOM. NIGHT.

And as Randy reads the last sentence, his interest has grown.

RANDY:

‘The will itself, I have not seen,

despite my persistent attempts to

do so. Yours sincerely, Johann

Rinesch’.

And he puts down the letter, looks over at Pam.

PAM:

So her lawyer never saw the will?

RANDY:

Nobody saw the will. Can you

believe that? Nobody.

PAM:

Nobody?

INT. THE SCHOENBERGS’ LIVING ROOM. NIGHT.

In his pyjamas, in amongst Dora’s toys, Randy is on the

internet, researching the web page of the ‘Austrian

Government, Ministry of Culture: Art Restitution claims.’ And

as his eyes scan the page we can tell he’s already being

drawn in a little.

INT. BERGEN BROWN SHERMAN OFFICES. DAY.

Randy comes out of his office, into the reception area and

sees Maria. He’s holding a bunch of papers. Maria is sitting,

but stands when he approaches. Randy’s behaviour is a little

furtive, as if he doesn’t want to be seen with Maria.

MARIA:

Everybody here looks like they are

about to have nervous breakdowns.

RANDY:

Most of them are. We need to

photocopy these.

Through a glass partition he notices Sherman looking at him,

wondering who Maria is. Feeling the pressure, Randy starts to

walk down the corridor to where the photocopier is, with

Maria in tow. He is obviously in a hurry, fitting Maria in

between pressing work at the office.

RANDY (CONT’D)

I was up till three, I did some

research for you.

MARIA:

I’m impressed.

RANDY:

Get someone on the ground in

Vienna. For the first time in fifty

years, they’ve opened the archives.

So you start by trying to find a

copy of Adele’s will.

They have arrived at the photocopier. He starts to make

copies for her.

MARIA:

And then what?

RANDY:

The Austrian Ministry of Culture

has set up a committee to review

each case individually. You need to

fill in an application for them to

consider your claim by the end of

next month at the latest.

MARIA:

Next month?

He hands her a piece of paper - she scans it with her eyes.

RANDY:

I’ve sent away for one already.

MARIA:

Slow down, you’re going too quickly

for me. You can explain things to

me over lunch.

And just then, he sees Sherman again, coming out of a

conference room.

RANDY:

Oh, no, no, no, no. I can’t do

lunch. I can’t do lunch, Maria.

INT. NORM’S DINER. DAY.

They’ve had lunch. Randy has placed the photocopied papers on

the table, amidst the leftovers.

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