The Last Vermeer begs the question: What makes a masterpiece?

It is not unusual for a film to hold out more promise than it fulfils, though, despite that, the film is still not without considerable merit. Such is the case with The Last Vermeer.

Now, contrary to the accepted rules of film reviewing, I am going to include in this review what for many may well be a series of massive plot spoilers. Perhaps this is because of my advanced age, so that I remember events occurring and feel that these things are already so widely known that I assume there must be few who are not aware of them; whatever the reason I am assuming that readers are already aware of Van Meegeren, the Dutchman who became famous shortly after World War II. So, be warned, if you are unaware of this particular historical event and wish to avoid all plot spoilers, I suggest you leap to the last paragraph of this review.

Those of you still with me will know that Van Meegeren achieved lasting notoriety as the most successful art forger of all time. In the first half of the twentieth century, he managed to forge Dutch old masters, including paintings purported to be by de Hooch and Hals, so successfully that he was able to fool leading art experts who were asked to authenticate the paintings. Above all, he created a series of paintings, ostensibly by the superb Vermeer – the master of light and mood – in a series of Biblical scenes based on the life of Christ. The most successful of these, “Christ at Emmaus” and “Christ and the Adulteress” – though such a series of “finds” should have caused suspicion that something was wrong as prior to that only 30 or so paintings had been credited to Vermeer.

Van Meegeren’s creations brought him great wealth, especially the “Christ and the Adulteress” which Hermann Goering, the Nazi second in command, bought for his private collection during World War II. Indeed, it may well be argued that the popularity of such works as “Woman with a Milk Pitcher” and “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is in large measure because of the publicity that Van Meegeren, through his clever forgeries, brought to the artist’s works. All of this provides background for The Last Vermeer.

Intriguing and dramatic as the facts are, they are given in The Last Vermeer extremely fictional treatment in that they are based on the novel of the same name by Jonathan Lopez. This approach allows the film to explore some provocative issues as the fictional Captain Joseph Piller (Claes Bang), a Jew, attempts to find out whether Van Meegeren was actually a Nazi collaborator. Thus, the film is set in post-wartime Holland at a time when the Allied authority was being replaced by the newly formed national government.

Since those who had actually assisted the Nazis were subject to death by firing squad, Piller’s determination to ensure that Van Meegeren gets a fair trial becomes a challenge as to how far one should go in seeking justice in the midst of re-establishing a responsible government and moving on from a tragic past. The question for Spiller becomes even more personal when he begins to suspect that his wife, working for the Dutch resistance, had perhaps had affairs with Nazis as she sought to gain their confidence in her pursuit of war secrets. The moral and ethical questions raised are indeed challenging and occupy much of the first half of the film.

Cinematically, director Dan Friedkin turns in excellent work in his moodily atmospheric portrayal of war-ravaged Holland. One is reminded of the similar achievement of Lean ’s portrayal of Vienna in The Third Man. A further and great bonus of the film is the portrayal of Van Meegeren by Guy Pearce – an utterly mesmerizing performance which is a timely reminder of what a great actor Pearce is.  He provides a rich dramatic focus as Piller’s client, Van Meegeren, is put on trial for having betrayed his country. The artist was accused of having sold to the enemy part of the national culture for personal gain.

Unfortunately, it is here that the film descends into a less than convincing courtroom drama. Freidkin and his writers seem to have modelled their approach on such belief-straining films as the Agatha Christie based Witness for the Prosecution. In this section of the film, the truth about Van Meegeren’s forgeries is revealed in a way which bears little fidelity to the actual historical trial in which the artist’s forging skill was revealed.

It is, however, accurate in showing how the outcome led to the artist becoming a Dutch national hero as the man who had hoodwinked the Nazis out of a large fortune. Similarly, the film closes with a somewhat accurate coda raising suspicions as to whether Van Meegeren really deserved the adulation he received.

Though the latter part of the film is less than impressive and formulaic, it does again raise intriguing questions. Just what does “consorting and conspiring with the enemy” really mean? What are the limits that should be applied to those actions? If a picture is regarded as a masterpiece, why does it lose all value if it is found to be a forgery? What makes a masterpiece a masterpiece? Should Van Meegeren be regarded merely as a successful crook or, rather, as a great artist?

In short, while The Last Vermeer, despite its artistic merits, is flawed as a film, it is apparent that the makers are above all concerned with using the story to challenge the audience, ultimately to ask them to consider a number of questions, not the least of which is, “What is truth and how should one deal with it?” It’s a question which has puzzled people since time immemorial. It ls the same question as bothered Pontius Pilate! Indeed, it is a question which today has for us, the audience, perhaps even more relevance than the makers intended! If nothing else, The Last Vermeer is certainly a great stimulus to philosophic considerations.