Movie Review: 'The Burnt Orange Heresy' is a Smart, Flashy, Thriller

The Burnt Orange Heresy (watch the trailer here on YouTube) stars Danish theater actor Claes Bang in the lead role of James Figueres, an art expert and critic. As the story begins, Figueres is broke, slightly inebriated and more than a little desperate for a break. He's delivering an art lecture to a group of little old ladies that he hopes will buy his very niche book of art criticism.

Standing out among the crowd of biddies and loyal husbands is a much younger and very attractive woman. Her name is Bernice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki) and we have no idea what she's doing here. She does seem to care about art but she seems far more bored and listless than infatuated with the classics. Shortly, she will become infatuated with Figueres and the two fall fast into bed.

Soon after what they both appear to believe is a one night stand, Figueres receives a trajectory altering phone call. On the line is legendary billionaire and art snob, Joseph Cassidy (Mick Jagger). Cassidy is summoning his favorite art critic to his home on Lake Como in Italy and he is dangling a very big carrot.

According to Cassidy, the very famous and extremely reclusive artist, Jerome Debney (Donald Sutherland), has taken up residence in his guest house and may be painting again after a decades long hiatus. Debney is the white whale of artist interview subjects and Figueres almost jumps out of his skin at the chance of meeting him.

Cassidy has more than just publicity on his mind however. He knows that no matter his money or status, Debney won't show him a painting, let alone let him obtain and sell one. Cassidy wants to use Figueres' standing as a critic to get into Debney's new collection and perhaps purloin one of the paintings. At the very least, Figueres might prove that Debney is indeed painting again.

Hoping feminine whiles might entice Debney. Figueres entices Bernice to join him at Lake Como. She might not know Debney but someone of her charisma might surely draw the artist out to reveal his secrets. Whether or not her presence is helpful or a hindrance, you will have to discover by seeing The Burnt Orange Heresy.

The Burnt Orange Heresy was directed with a lush eye for the Italian lakeside by Giuseppi Capatondi, an Italian commercial and music video director who is making the leap to his first mainstream feature. The promotion isn't seamless, there are issues here and there in the pacing of action and in some odd compositional elements, but, for the most part, it's a serviceable and solid bit of direction.

The key element of The Burnt Orange Heresy however is the exceptional casting. Claes Bang is a wonderful blank canvas on which to project the broken character of Figueres. A more well known, American actor would not have the same advantages. We don't know Claes Bang and thus his handsome, weathered, face tells this story so well. We don't already have an image that he has to wipe away so we can buy in on Figueres.

Elizabeth Debicki is a wonderful foil as a secretive and sexy object of affection. Throughout most of the movie, we have no idea who Bernice is. We get a few biographical details but they are so humdrum that no one else in the cast believes they could fit to someone as captivating as Bernice. Even the name Bernice comes off as unfit for someone of this woman's intrigue.

So much of that comes from Debicki who captures the dichotomy of secretive femme fatale and innocent midwesterner. That's quite a good trick given that she is Australian by birth. As played by Debicki, you absolutely believe that this woman was simply following along, seeking adventure and not knowing where she's going next. And yet, she's just levelheaded enough to make us believe she has something else she could be doing other than indulging the massive male egos surrounding her here.

Mick Jagger is also perfectly cast as the preening, entitled, billionaire, so used to getting his way that he can't help himself. Jagger's impish charm as he is enticing Figueres into a shady, perhaps criminal, enterprise is a true delight. You can sense that Jagger has had a lot of practice in the role of someone who doesn't understand why he can't have everything he wants.

And finally, there is Donald Sutherland. Much like Jagger, he has an impish quality to the way he defies the world. Sutherland's Jerome is all wit and wily intelligence. Jerome sizes up Figueres immediately and delights in sticking it to the pompous wannabe side of Figueres' personality. Watching Sutherland toy with Bang's Figueres is one of the great delights of The Burnt Orange Heresy.

There is a key scene in Jerome's art studio that plays rather stage bound, it's broad in the way a Broadway drama often is and also confined, as if to a stage. But, much like a very good play, the drama is alive and vibrant, the dialogue and the dynamic at play is invigorating and the crescendo of the scene is magnificent, a perfect jumping off point to the final act of the movie.

I adored The Burnt Orange Heresy. This is a movie of wit and surprise, of nasty characters and charming rascals. It's a thriller with some genuine thrills amid the charm offensive of a glorious cast. The Burnt Orange Heresy is in limited release with plans for expansion until the Coronavirus stalled it as it has most other movies intended for wide release (Search for showtimes here).

Keep an eye out for The Burnt Orange Heresy on your favorite streaming service in the next couple of months.