Seattle International Film Festival 2025: Film #1
Seems ever-poised to make some sort of comment on the disjunction between the monied world of marketised art and its working-class owner/discoverer, yet Auction never shows its hand either way, or, perhaps even worse, doesn't seem to consider it much of a topic worthy of discussion. Perhaps the screenplay is saying that here is a model poor person who doesn't get above their station and isn't made gauche by receiving 2.5 million Euro? That would at least be in line with the film's celebratory treatment of the 'surprise' high auction price and the strange applause at the end. Anyway, something tells me the film would have kicked into another gear if the assistant's compulsive lying led to the firm really getting out over their skis, perhaps in relation to the sharp tricks the German gallery owner was (maybe?) up to. Nice suits, watches and knitwear, though.
Synopsis: André Masson, specialist in modern art, receives a letter according to which a painting by Egon Schiele had been discovered in Mulhouse. He finds that the work has been missing since 1939. This discovery puts his career in danger.