My wife and I saw trailers for The Goldfinch in those bygone pre-Coronavirus days last Spring, when we went out to the movies. But we didn't get a chance to see it in the Fall. It therefore was a real pleasure to finally see it on Amazon Prime Video last night. The movie is a tour-de-force, even a masterpiece, about the intersection of timeless art and the vicissitudes of human life. "The Goldfinch" is a real Dutch Golden Age painting by Carel Fabritius, a student of Rembrandt's. The movie is based on a real novel by Donna Tartt about a series of fictitious events surrounding the painting, which I haven't read.
The narrative begins when a terrorist's bomb kills young Theodore Decker's mother during their visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (another place I miss even driving by in these locked-in months). He leaves with a painting that also survived the bomb, "The Goldfinch," which an old man, another victim of the bombing, urges Theo to take. The next decade or more of his life, and the rest of the movie, is dedicated to Theo's keeping himself and the painting alive. He navigates, sometimes expertly, the various family members, girls, women, friends, and players in the fine art and and antique business.
Oakes Fegley as young Theo and Ansel Elgort as his older self are just superb. My favorite character other than Theo is Jeffrey Wright as James "Hobie" Hobart, whose explanations about the enduring differences between antiques and repros, and it the difference between mortal humanity and an immortal painting, and why it is therefore so crucial that the immortal painting survive, are non-pareil, in movies or anywhere. And Wright delivers these talks perfectly - indeed, I like his performance in The Goldfinch even more than in Westworld and various commercials, Other memorable performances include Ashleigh Cummings as Pippa, Theo's truest love, and Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard as young Theo's friend young Boris, who will play a game-changing role in Theo's later life. For her part, Cummings manages to convey the deep, complex love she has for Theo, which may be immortal but doesn't always lead to happy endings.
There's a great artistic ambience in The Goldfinch, including the music of Glenn Gould (if you're interested in his virtuoso work and its continuing impact, check out Alida Altemburg's DMajor TV and her Glenn Gould page). And the New York City ambience, the restaurants and the busy streets, make me want to get out there and back there even more. But like the painting, The Goldfinch movie transcends current catastrophes and even the pandemic, my guess it will be watched and appreciated forever.
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