Auction

First Run

When star Parisian auctioneer André (Alex Lutz) learns that a long-lost Egon Schiele painting looted by Nazis is hanging in a small town worker’s home, he pays a visit and verifies its authenticity… as well as its iniquitous wartime provenance. A race to navigate the thorny art world collides with a triangle of players including André’s mendacious intern, his savvy ex-wife/art appraiser (Léa Drucker), and the earnest worker caught unawares in a moral dilemma. Bonitzer—a former Cahiers du Cinéma critic and screenwriter for André Téchiné, Jacques Rivette, Raoul Peck, and others—gamely skewers the absurdities of the big money art market while converging historical and moral questions with welcome optimism.