The Best Offer - The highest bid

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Movie
German title The Best Offer - The highest bid
Original title La migliore offerta
Country of production Italy
original language English
Publishing year 2013
length 131 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Giuseppe Tornatore
script Giuseppe Tornatore
production Isabella Cocuzza
Arturo Paglia
music Ennio Morricone
camera Fabio Zamarion
cut Massimo Quaglia
occupation

The Best Offer is an Italian movie from 2013 directed by Giuseppe Tornatore .

action

The eccentric appraiser and auctioneer Virgil Oldman lives exclusively for his passion for art. In consultation with the artist Billy Whistler, he secures undervalued masterpieces directly in the auction room. Virgil has been conducting auctions for years in such a way that Billy can buy certain original paintings by great artists at low prices. Before each auction, Virgil, as a reviewer for the auction house, deliberately rated these original paintings as replicas, imitations or forgeries. In fact, they are original paintings that always portray women. Virgil has a room for the priceless art collection of dozens of female portraits that lies dormant in his house, which is secured behind a glove cabinet and a steel vault door.

Meanwhile, the committed misanthrope's private life lies completely idle. The 63-year-old can't do anything with his fellow human beings, but especially with women. He always wears leather gloves in everyday life, which should prevent his hands from getting dirty and he also avoids any other social contact. It was only when a certain Claire Ibbetson asked him over the phone to estimate the value of her late parents' estate in their house and to catalog the works of art for auction that his attitude gradually changed.

Because Virgil is primarily not interested in the antique collection, but in the aloof Claire. She can always be excused until Virgil discovers during a phone call in the house that Claire must live in the house. Claire suffers from severe agoraphobia and cannot endure unfamiliar places or people. According to her own statements, she has not left the Ibbetson family home for 15 years and therefore does not want to identify herself to Virgil personally.

Virgil gets it into his head to help the art-educated woman. To do this, he gets advice from the young mechanic Robert in his shop around the corner. He is not only very familiar with mechanics, but also with women, as Virgil soon realizes. In addition, Robert reconstructs an antique robot for Virgil free of charge, which Virgil brings him piece by piece from Claire's house.

Using a feint, Virgil manages to observe Claire directly in the house for the first time without revealing himself to her. Here she strikes him as young and extremely pretty. Virgil often begins to go to a coffee bar that is just across the street from Claire's house in order to be able to control the house entrance. In doing so, he unintentionally becomes aware of a deformed woman who is always in the bar and talks strange to herself.

After several visits to Robert and his tips on love and some verbal arguments with Claire in her house, Virgil finally manages to speak to her personally. At the latest after this meeting, Virgil Robert reveals himself completely and speaks about the fact that the story with Claire affects him personally. Virgil now goes to Claire regularly, buys her clothes and brings her food.

In the meantime, Virgil is working on the cataloging of all antiquarian objects from Claire's house. His actual work as an auctioneer suffers from his relationship with Claire, which increasingly demands and upsets him. He doesn't even wear his mandatory gloves anymore.

When Claire can suddenly no longer be found, Virgil searches obsessively for her. Finally he finds her in the attic of her house, where she sits huddled and cries. After taking a bath to calm down, Virgil and Claire sleep together. Virgil passed this event on to Robert the next day. On the same evening, Virgil is beaten up in front of Claire's house by three strangers. With the last of his strength, he calls Claire, who calls an ambulance.

After his recovery, Virgil leads Claire to himself for the first time and shows her the hidden room with the paintings. Now that the two have confessed their affection for each other, they meet up with Robert and his girlfriend for dinner in a restaurant. Here Virgil presents the finished catalog for the antiques from Claire's house, which suddenly no longer wants to sell. Virgil complies with the request and tears up the catalog. In addition, Virgil announces that he has decided to hold the largest and last auction of his life this coming weekend so that he can devote himself entirely to Claire.

After the auction ends, Billy tells Virgil that he could have become a great artist if Virgil had believed in him. But it becomes clear that Virgil doesn't believe in Billy's arts. As he parted, Billy said to him that he had sent Virgil one of his pictures.

When Virgil arrives at his home, he searches in vain for Claire, who, according to the butler, has gone out, but finds a portrait of Claire in a room. Virgil brings the picture straight to his secret room, but there lets the painting slip from his hands in horror: all the pictures have been stolen from the room. Virgil looks petrified at the white walls. When he turns around, he discovers the antique robot that Robert had completed in a corner. When Virgil runs up to it, the robot begins to speak: “Behind every fake there is something real, entirely in your opinion. That's why I will miss you, Mister Oldman. "

Virgil - meanwhile in a psychiatric hospital - fell victim to an inscrutable and ingenious plan. The deformed woman in the bar turns out to be the real Claire Ibbetson, who owns the house across the street. In a conversation with her, Virgil learns that she last rented her house to a technician. Now Virgil understands that Claire and Robert are a cunning pair of crooks and that their love and affection was just a play.

Robert’s shop is also empty. When Virgil examines the painting of the fake Claire at home, he finds written on the back canvas: “For Virgil with affection and gratitude. Billy “So it is clear that Billy is also involved in the plot against Virgil. A GPS transmitter in the trunk of his car gives Virgil the certainty that those involved always knew where he was.

Virgil desperately remembers the intimate moments with the wrong Claire and at the end of the film he takes the train to Prague to wait for his great love Claire in a cafe full of large clocks - a Cafe Zeitlos, so to speak.

criticism

Martin Schwickert praises the thriller at the time , which "is particularly convincing due to its complex plot construction and the atmospheric density of the stylish setting, in which art history can breathe deeply." Gerhard Midding, the world's critic , establishes a relationship with Alfred Hitchcock , praises the great acting performance of Geoffrey Rush. Tornatore constructed the film with "old-fashioned panache and a visible delight in the mysteries it raises," but he regrets the film's bland title. For Carsten Baumgardt from filmstarts.de, the film is "like a second-hand bookshop - extremely cultivated and consciously turned against today's viewing habits", delighted by a "lovingly perfect set [and] beguiling string sounds by old master Ennio Morricone", by "largely effective set twists and turns and timeless themes ”.

Awards

In 2013, Ennio Morricone won the European Film Award in the category of best film music . In addition, it was for The Best Offer - The highest bid nominations in the categories of Best European film , European Audience Award , Best Director and Best Screenplay .

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Release certificate for The Best Offer - The highest bid . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2013 (PDF; test number: 137 767 K).
  2. Martin Schwickert: Thriller "The best offer": It hitchhocks behind closed doors. In: Zeit Online. March 18, 2013, accessed September 16, 2017 .
  3. Caught in the spell of an invisible woman. In: Die Welt from March 21, 2013, accessed on September 30, 2018.
  4. ^ Criticism by the Filmstarts.de editorial team
  5. The Best Offer. In: Zelluloid.de. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017 ; accessed on September 30, 2018 .