THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY – Review

Who’s ready for a bit, no lots, of culture? No, well let’s sweeten the deal. Yes, you’ll be in the world of odd artists and their deep-pocketed patrons, but the paintings are on the walls of a swanky mansion over in Italy. Hmm, some refinement and a virtual “vacay”. And who are our guides? That’s where the romance sneaks in via a most photogenic pair of European rising stars. Oh, and they’re backed up by a veteran film actor (this is his seventh decade on screen) and an honest to gosh, no debate about it, rock and roll god. Somehow this quartet is connected by the piece known as THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY.

When we meet art critic/author James Figueras (Claes Bang) he’s lecturing a group of English tourists at a bookstore in Milan, Italy. Nobody’s buying his softcover collection of art essays, but he’s approached by a willowy blonde from the states, Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki). The two go straight from the shop to his “flat’ for a late afternoon romantic “romp”. Instead of sending her on her way, James invites her to join him on a business, now with a bit of pleasure, trip. A wealthy art collector wants him to appraise a new acquisition. The couple motors their way to the Lake Como villa of Joseph Cassidy (Mick Jagger). While Berenice lounges by the pool, Cassidy reveals the real reason for summoning James. It seems that Cassidy is part of an art lover’s group providing a home for reclusive celebrated painter Jerome Debney (Donald Sutherland) located not far from the mansion. Getting an exclusive interview with Debney would re-ignite James’ fading art historian career. But what does Cassidy want in return? Over the last fifty years, all of Debney’s works were destroyed in two fires (one at a museum, the other at his studio). He hasn’t produced anything since the tragedies. Cassidy wants James to convince Debney to create one more painting, a one-of-a-kind that would become part of Cassidy’s massive collection. To ensure his help, Cassidy threatens James with a bit of blackmail, a secret that could drum him out of the ‘art world”. Later at the pool, James and Berenice encounter Debney who is familiar with his writings. However, Debney insists that he will have no part of a literary profile. How can James change his mind, let alone convince him to paint once more?

As for this quartet of players, some are most engaging while others, well, often strain to move the “not as clever as it thinks it is” story. Bang, who most recently was a suave and bloodthirsty Dracula in a Netflix miniseries, bares that script struggle as he tries to make James into a complex compelling protagonist (though other forces seem to compel him forward). We can see his skills at hustling the tourists, but it’s difficult to buy into his “con game” with the upper elites, let alone that this “cool blonde” (a nod to “Hitch”, perhaps) would fall into bed with him so quickly, even as he devolves into a jittery chain-smoking “pill-popper”. Debicki as Berenice (really is that name a staple in small Minnesota villages) has an aloof alluring vibe, comfortable in a modest (well for Milan) studio apartment or gliding about a swanky manor. Still, she can’t make the clunky pillow talk play, but Debicki shines as she opens up her wounded soul to the sympathetic reclusive painter. Maybe that’s because the eccentric artiste is played with great subtlety and “charm to spare” by the still-surprising Sutherland. The years have just made him more compelling as his rich vocal delivery draws us in, setting us up for Debney’s twisted, but often just, moral code of conduct. His supporting role is the film’s biggest strength as is the most welcome acting return after nearly twenty years (so great as the “escort agent” of THE MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS) of Jagger who is the ultimate in silky smooth but sinister civility as the collecting-obsessed Cassidy. His silky compliments put James at ease, easily setting him up for a cruel plunge into crime and deceit ( a coiffed smiling cobra comes to mind). His arena-filling charisma makes this preening puppet-master (dance Jame, dance) the jewel as the heart of this modern noir homage.

Actually a story centered on the relationship between Debney and Cassidy would be most compelling, but director Giuseppe Capotondi is tasked with making the James/ Berenice romance/partnership interesting. It’s not enough to move the plot’s manipulations forward at a breezy clip. Much of that floundering is due to their exchanges in the script by Scott B. Smith adapting the Charles Willeford novel. The attempts at witty by-play fall flat as do the “hammered home” digs at James’ moral flaws (constant flies and bees, that gushing nose bleed). Once the “crime” is in motion we’re left to accept other characters “going along’ with odd bits of business (leave the villa in the dead of night…okay). This leads up to a final “fast forward” denouncement” that feels more contrived than clever. The lush Italian locales are quite lovely, but the attitude toward and fate of one major character just sours almost everything. Except for those performing “pros”, Donald and Mick (maybe too close to the Disney duo). They add the real heat (and color hued heat) to THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY.

2 Out of 4

THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at the Hi-Pointe Theatre