Most films that you see here reviewed recently come from a mail-film-rental from Belgium. I make a watch-list from their 20.000+ titles and when films are sent, their computer checks availability to choose which films I get. I can prioritise a little, but I cannot choose which film to see next. Every now and then I fail to remember what made me put a certain film on the list. In fact, I saw a few of those recently. Often that makes a rather disappointing watch, but “The Big Offer” was actually a very nice surprise. The director nor the actors seem to have been a reason to choose this film. Perhaps I read a good review about it. On to the film.
We follow Virgil Oldman, a preposterously rich art auctioneer who makes fortune from his own trade, but also enlarges his personal collection. Oldman is magnificently played by Geoffrey Rush. Oldman is contacted by a possible customer who wants him to valuate her parents house. Contacts are difficult, Oldman frequently gets annoyed by the evasive behaviour of his client, but lateron their relation improves. The customer is played by a young women who was born not too far from where I live, the beautiful Sylvia Hoeks.
The film makes a nice story about art collectors, the extremely wealthy and Oldman’s curiosity about his customer. The story is interwoven with facts about Renaissance art and experimentalism. All very ‘high-brow’, but I enjoyed the atmosphere of the film. It has that Italian ‘pompousness’. Then towards the ends comes a big surprise which kind of spoils the film for me a little.
Overall “La Migliore Offerta” is a very good drama/romance though with a bit of crime in it.