Art Heist

Last updated
Art Heist
Art Heist poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Bryan Goeres
Written by Diane Fine
Evan Spiliotopoulos
Produced by Manual Corbi
Starring Ellen Pompeo
William Baldwin
Abel Folk
Cinematography Jacques Haitkin
Music by Sean Murray
Release date
  • July 13, 2004 (2004-07-13)
Running time
98 minutes
CountriesSpain
United States
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Russian
Budget$30 million
Box office$130-150 million

Art Heist is a 2004 action thriller film directed by Bryan Goeres and starring William Baldwin, Ellen Pompeo, and Abel Folk. Written by Diane Fine and Evan Spiliotopoulos, and produced by Manual Corbi, it was released on July 13, 2004.

Contents

Plot summary

A very famous and expensive painting is stolen from the MNAC art museum in Barcelona, Spain. The museum has many security features that are problematic for the thieves, but because of their skill they are able to circumvent the security and steal the famous El Greco Christ Carrying the Cross on display courtesy of Victor Boyd (Ed Lauter.) [1]

After the first heist, Sandra Walker (Ellen Pompeo), is called by her boss Victor Boyd and sent to Spain to ensure his El Greco is returned. Victor Boyd, the owner of the stolen El Greco, is a very rich and powerful businessman who Sandra works for as an art consultant. She is called in to find the stolen El Greco because she persuaded Victor to display it at the MNAC art museum, from which it was ultimately stolen. [2] While getting ready for her trip to Spain to track down the missing El Greco, the audience is given some insight into Sandra’s life: She is separated from an NYPD detective, Bruce (William Baldwin), and they have a young daughter together, Allison (Madison Goeres) The couple appears to be going through a bit of a rough patch, but still seem to love each other. Sandra is able to convince her husband to watch their daughter while she’s away. Bruce is skeptical of the whole situation and worried about Sandra’s well-being.

Upon her arrival at the crime scene in Barcelona, Sandra is reunited with an old colleague of hers, Daniel (Abel Folk), who was brought in to consult on the investigation. It quickly becomes apparent these two have a deep history and there are many secret feelings. The two of them make a great team and quickly narrow down the list of suspects to the ruthless Russian mobster Dimitri Maximov (Simon Andreu) Dimitri is portrayed as a questionable individual who seems to be scheming some sort of master plan as the art heists continue. This plays right into Sandra and Daniel’s suspicion that he is the culprit. Another El Greco is stolen during an auction that both Sandra and Daniel as well as all potential suspect attend. While in the bathroom, Sandra observes one thief escaping. After alerting Daniel, they pursue the suspect through Barcelona but crash into a restaurant. After waking up in the hospital, Bruce and their daughter arrive from New York. Soon after, Sandra’s life is threatened in a park where she was together with her daughter and husband.

The attacker demands that she leave Spain. However, Bruce chases them away and follows them on a motorbike. Although he manages to catch up with one attacker, they eventually flee after knocking him down. However, he managed to see the face of one of them as well as ripping a piece of his clothing which gave him a clue to a night club. When Maximov's yacht gets blown up with all the paintings, the original theory seems confirmed. Several clues point towards Sandra as a main accomplice. However, Sandra’s partner in the investigation, Daniel, who had been nothing but helpful and affectionate turns out to be the villain in a dramatic ending scene. After Bruce and Sandra discover the paintings in Daniel's studio, Daniel kidnaps their daughter and sets up a meeting at a closed amusement park overlooking the sea where he arrives by helicopter with the last surviving thief (the others having been killed by him to keep his fee to himself). Daniel, in his capacity as an art professor, had been using his students to steal the art under orders from Sandra’s boss, Victor Boyd. Victor planned to frame Sandra by depositing large amounts of money in her bank accounts to make it appear as though she sold security information to the robbers. As the final scene unfolds and all of this information is revealed to the audience, we ask “Why?” As it turns out, Daniel was frustrated with his persistent failures as an artist while other artists around him flourished. He participated in this long and carefully thought-out scheme for his own revenge and Victor's promise to help him become famous. At the last moment, Bruce comes to the rescue of his estranged wife and daughter, only to be shot by Victor after subduing Daniel. Although it appeared as though Daniel and Victor were going to make a dramatic helicopter getaway, after Victor explained that he planned to kill Sandra and her daughter, Daniel had a change of heart and tried to protect them from Victor; only to be shot. Right before his death, Daniel passed Bruce his gun and with it Bruce was able to kill Victor. The film ends with Sandra's family reunited.

Cast

Art pieces stolen throughout movie

Christ Carrying the Cross [3] – Painted by the famous El Greco (1541 – 7 April 1614), this oil painting of Christ during a time of suffering was completed in the year 1595 in Spain. In it, Greco seeks to portray the haunting immediacy and resonant with pathos. Christ’s willingness to be sacrificed shows his devotion to mankind and can be seen through his gentle grip of the cross as seen here.

St. John the Evangelist [4] – Painted by the famous El Greco (1541 – 7 April 1614), this oil painting produced in Spain was completed around the year 1604. One of Christ’s disciples, St. John the Evangelist [5] is depicted here as a handsome young individual at a time of his following to Christ. In his hand is a cup of poison to resemble a liquid acquired from a dragon to symbolize ‘evil emerging’. His appearance is said to lead viewers to believe that he is a person who has the power to work miracles. This piece of art can be viewed at the (Aaron and B Lima Shickman Old Masters Galleries.) [6]

Samson and Delilah [7] – Painted by the famous Lucas Cranach (1472 – 1553), this oil painting displayed on hard wood is one of many versions of this style of painting. In it, Philistine Delilah is cutting the hair of Samson, which displays the sapping of his strength. You can see Samson is laying his head on Delilah’s lap motionless due to his weakness. This painting is to warn men of the pitfalls of love and how it could drain one of their powers. It also shows how women are conniving in their ways to draw in men.

Old Man [8] - Painted by the famous El Greco (1541 – 7 April 1614), this oil painting produced in Spain was completed around the year 1604. This Spanish portrait of this old man during the Late Renaissance resembles the stress this time put on many people. Having painted various styles of Christ and other religious figures, Greco this time portrays what seems to be himself as this old man. It is not proven that this is a portrait of Greco, but the characteristics in the face and style of his clothes give good indication that this is a self-portrait of the artist himself. You can find this painting in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Coronation of the Virgin [9] - Painted by the famous El Greco (1541 – 7 April 1614), this oil painting produced in Spain was completed around the year 1591. Scholars have presumed that Greco created the first version of this elaborate painting which displays Christ, Virgin Mary, and God-the-Father. The dove above them symbolizes peace, which through the sacrifice of Christ himself, was what the world would receive in return for his actions. This painting can be found in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.

All the copies of el Greco has been made by the entreprise §artsfairies.co.uk [10] whose CEO is Antonio Barrero Carro.

Production

The film was produced, filmed, and then released in Spain on July 13, 2004. On 22 March 2005, the film was released to the U.S. and to the rest of the world on DVD.

Related Research Articles

El Greco Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance (1541–1614)

Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco, was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος, often adding the word Κρής, which means Cretan.

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum Art museum in Madrid, Spain

The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. It is known as part of the "Golden Triangle of Art", which also includes the Prado and the Reina Sofía national galleries. The Thyssen-Bornemisza fills the historical gaps in its counterparts' collections: in the Prado's case this includes Italian primitives and works from the English, Dutch and German schools, while in the case of the Reina Sofia it concerns Impressionists, Expressionists, and European and American paintings from the 20th century.

<i>View of Toledo</i> Painting by El Greco

View of Toledo, is one of the two surviving landscapes painted by El Greco, along with View and Plan of Toledo. View of Toledo is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Events from the year 1614 in art.

<i>Opening of the Fifth Seal</i> Unfinished painting by El Greco

The Opening of the Fifth Seal was painted in the last years of El Greco's life for a side-altar of the church of Saint John the Baptist outside the walls of Toledo. Before 1908, El Greco's painting had been referred to as Profane Love. The scholar Manuel B. Cossio had doubts about the title and suggested the Opening of the Fifth Seal. The Metropolitan Museum, where the painting is kept, comments: "the picture is unfinished and much damaged and abraded."

El Greco (1541–1614) was a prominent painter, sculptor and architect active during the Spanish Renaissance. He developed into an artist so unique that he belongs to no conventional school. His dramatic and expressionistic style was met with puzzlement by his contemporaries but gained newfound appreciation in the 20th century.

<i>The Weeping Woman</i> Oil painting by Pablo Picasso

The Weeping Woman is a series of oil on canvas paintings by Pablo Picasso, the last of which was created in late 1937. The paintings depict Dora Maar, Picasso's mistress and muse. The Weeping Woman paintings were produced by Picasso in response to the bombing of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War and are closely associated with the iconography in his painting Guernica. Picasso was intrigued with the subject of the weeping woman, and revisited the theme numerous times that year. The last version, created on 26 October 1937, was the most elaborate of the series, and has been housed in the collection of the Tate Modern in London since 1987. Another Weeping Woman painting is housed at the National Gallery of Victoria and was involved in a high-profile political art theft.

Philip II of Spain has inspired artistic and cultural works for over four centuries, as the most powerful ruler in the Europe of his day, and subsequently a central figure in the "Black Legend" of Spanish power. The following list covers representations of him in drama, opera, film, novels, and verse. A small selection of the many artistic portrayals of Philip is shown in gallery form.

<i>Laocoön</i> (El Greco)

The Laocoön is an oil painting created between 1610 and 1614 by Greek painter El Greco. It is part of a collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Nikolaos Doxaras 18th-century Greek painter

Nikolaos Doxaras. He was a Greek painter and teacher. His father was famous painter Panagiotis Doxaras. Panagiotis Doxaras was the father of the Greek Rococo and the Modern Greek Enlightenment in art. They are both prominent members of the Heptanese School. They refined Greek art bringing the Maniera Greca into the Maniera Italiana. Artists he influenced include: Nikolaos Kantounis, Nikolaos Koutouzis and Gerasimos Pitsamanos. His influence can be seen in some of Nikolaos Kantounis's paintings notably The Assumption. Nikolaos taught famous painter Nikolaos Koutouzis. Both Nikolaos Koutouzis and Doxaras artistic style refined the art of the Ionian Islands. Venetian painting influenced countless Greek artists who were living in the empire. From Michael Damaskinos to Theodore Poulakis. Twenty years after Nikolaos's death the style came to an end due to the Fall of the Republic of Venice. A new artistic style developed after the Greek Rococo which coincided with Neoclassicism in the rest of Europe called the middle Modern Greek Enlightenment in art also known as Neo-Hellenikos Diafotismos.

<i>Saint Peter and Saint Paul</i> (El Greco, Barcelona)

Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a painting by the Cretan-Spanish artist El Greco. The work was completed between 1590 and 1600. It is currently on display at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, who purchased the work in 1932.

<i>Saint Luke</i> (El Greco)

Saint Luke is a painting by an artist known as El Greco. The painting is an oil on canvas created sometime around 1610-1614. It is currently held by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Museum of El Greco

The Museum of El Greco is located on the edge of the village of Fodele in Crete, west of the city of Heraklion. It celebrates the mannerist painter El Greco, who grew up in the village.

El Greco Museum, Toledo

The El Greco Museum is located in Toledo, Spain. It celebrates the mannerist painter El Greco, who spent much of his life in Toledo, having been born in Fodele, Crete.

<i>Saint Sebastian</i> (El Greco, 1576–1579)

Saint Sebastian, or Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian is an autograph work by the famed artist Doménikos Theotokópoulos, commonly known as El Greco. It shows the Martyred Saint in an atypical kneeling posture which has led some scholars to believe it to be a compositional quotation of various works by other great masters whom the artist admired. The painting is currently on display in the Palencia Cathedral.

<i>The Adoration of the Shepherds</i> (El Greco, Bucharest)

The Adoration of the Shepherds is a painting of the traditional subject which was painted by El Greco in 1596. It is in the European painting collection of the National Museum of Art of Romania. This unusually tall painting is a work in the group of equally tall paintings which the artist made as part of his 1596 commission known as the Doña María de Aragón Altarpiece for the Colegio de Dona Maria de Aragón in a building that is now the location of Palacio del Senado in Madrid. El Greco's signature, in Greek, may be seen on the paper in the lower left corner.

<i>Last Supper</i> (El Greco)

Last Supper is a 1568 painting by Greek painter sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541–1614), most widely known as El Greco.

<i>Christ Carrying the Cross</i> (El Greco, New York) Painting by El Greco

Christ Carrying the Cross is an oil painting by El Greco, produced early in his Toledo period circa de 1580. The picture depicts Christ in a moment of personal reflection as he carries the cross to his death, therefore committing the ultimate sacrifice for humankind. In the painting, Christ's eyes are lifted up to the heavens as he begins his walk towards his crucifixion. His gentle hands wrap around the cross as a stormy night floods the background. Christ Carrying the Cross is an oil painting, 105x79cm. The painting, one of numerous similar paintings by El Greco, is currently in the El Greco room in the New York art collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

<i>Baptism of Christ</i> (El Greco, Heraklion) Painting by El Greco

Baptism of Christ is a 1567-1569 painting by El Greco. It is now in the Historical Museum of Crete in Heraklion.

References

  1. "Art Heist (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes .
  2. "Art Heist (2004) - A Review by David Nusair". www.reelfilm.com.
  3. http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/150000135 [ bare URL ]
  4. "Oops! The page you were looking for doesn't exist, please retry | GoJerusalem".
  5. John the Evangelist
  6. Old Masters Gallery
  7. http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110000475 [ bare URL ]
  8. "Portrait of an old man (presumed self-portrait of El Greco), c.1600 - El Greco - WikiArt.org". www.wikiart.org.
  9. "Coronation of the Virgin, 1591 - El Greco - WikiArt.org". www.wikiart.org.
  10. artsfairies.co.uk