Plot
The film tells a story of love and deceit, set in Europe - in the world of ultra high-end art auctions and antiques. The story revolves around Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush), an ageing, wealthy, and esteemed, but somewhat standoffish and eccentric, managing director of a preeminent auction house. Oldman is hired by a mysterious young heiress, Claire Ibbetson (Sylvia Hoeks), to auction off a large collection of art and antiques left to her by her parents. Claire always refuses to be seen in person, suffering from severe agoraphobia and never leaving her room. She has decided to trust Oldman, however, as he suffers himself from OCD. Soon enough Virgil, a lifelong bachelor who is able to relate to her reclusiveness, understands that he is falling in love with her.
An astute young artisan, Robert (Jim Sturgess), who has a shop repairing and restoring clocks, aids Oldman in restoring and reassembling some odd mechanical parts that he finds among Claire's belongings, which appear to be from a potentially valuable historic automaton, while also giving him advice on how to befriend her, and how to deal with his feelings towards her.
Oldman's poise and prestige are counterpointed by an ongoing scam whereby his friend Billy Whistler (Donald Sutherland) helps him acquire a large private collection of master portraits of women, worth many millions, by presenting them at auction as the work of other artists. Billy is an aspiring artist himself and is disappointed that Oldman does not take his work seriously.
A side narrative involves Virgil discovering a mouldy, charred piece of wood at another client's mansion. Declaring it probably worthless, he solicits it as a gift. Professional restoration then reveals a painting underneath, which Virgil falsely states is by a 16th-century forger who had identified herself with an obscurely placed "V". Virgil notes to these other clients that all forgers are irresistibly tempted to modify the original by adding something of their own, which reveals the forger's own artistic sensibilities. At auction, the painting is sold for £90,000; but, after Virgil explains to Billy that he knew that it was actually an original worth £8 million, Billy buys the painting from its purchaser for £250,000 and gives it to Virgil.
Oldman eventually begins a relationship with Ibbetson, compromising his work. At the peak of the relationship, Claire overcomes her fear of the outside world and Virgil lays aside his gloves. Claire goes on to live with Virgil, who trusts the fragile Claire enough to show her his secret collection. Overcome with emotion, Claire tells Virgil that, no matter what might happen to the two of them, she does love him. Once when leaving the villa, Virgil is beaten up by a gang and left in the street although his phone is not taken; Claire rescues him.
Virgil returns home one day to find that Claire and his entire collection are gone. In the vault is only the completed automaton constructed from the mechanical parts Virgil had given to Robert, which plays a message from Robert saying that there is something real in every forgery and that this is why Robert will truly miss Virgil. He also discovers that a supposed portrait of Claire's mother was in fact painted by Billy and has been left for him with a telling inscription.
Virgil realizes that he is the victim of an elaborate fraud conducted by Robert, Claire, and Billy, but he is unable to go to the police due to the illicit means by which he had acquired the now stolen works. He also discovers that the real owner of the villa is a young savant also named Claire, disabled and confined to a wheelchair, who has been watching him visit the villa on numerous occasions from a café across the street in which Virgil had himself spent time. She reveals that she had hired the villa out to some film directors and had seen the supposedly agoraphobic fake "Claire" come and go from the villa hundreds of times. Real Claire had also watched the contents of the villa being moved in three times and out three times. Virgil realises that this had been staging the ruse—the contents to be removed for auction by Virgil, returned when false Claire had allegedly decided not to sell the items, and finally removed when the con was complete.
We are not told explicitly who is behind the con, but at one prior point Claire, unaware that she is being observed by Virgil, talks to someone on the phone whom she calls the "Director"; if this is Billy, a possible motive is that, as an artist disappointed by Virgil, the con is an act of revenge on his part. An alternative suggestion by some viewers is that Billy, and possibly Robert, wish to draw Virgil out of his previous life in which he had little real contact or empathy with other real people, and the loss of his portrait collection may be a price he has to pay to gain the insights he has hitherto avoided.
After months of recovering from the betrayal in a mental institution, Virgil takes a trip to Prague, where he takes a room opposite the famous medieval tower clock and visits a restaurant that fake Claire had once suggested. The restaurant is filled with clocks and mechanical gears in the style of the automaton—perhaps a reminder of Virgil's OCD, perhaps a metaphor for his own life ticking by, or perhaps an indication of where the con was originally conceived by Robert and Billy. Virgil sits alone at a table, without gloves, recalling when Claire and he had made love and wondering whether her statement of love for him had been forged or a genuine sentiment.
Production
The film was produced by Paco Cinematografica with support from the FVG (Friuli Venezia Giulia) Film Fund. Filming began in Trieste on April 30, 2012. For Tornatore this meant a return to Trieste: it was here he shot La Sconosciuta in 2005, with Xenia Rappoport. Filming took place in a period of five to six weeks in the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Vienna, Prague, and South Tyrol.[4]
Reception
Critical reception
The Best Offer received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 55%, with an average rating of 5.84/10, based on reviews from 33 critics.[5] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 49 (out of 100), based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] Andrew Pulver of The Guardian rated it 2/5 stars and called it "stiff" and "convoluted".[7] Philippa Hawker of The Age rated it 3/5 stars and called it "handsome, yet austere".[8] Sandra Hall of the Brisbane Times rated it 4/5 stars and praised Geoffrey Rush's acting.[9] Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter called it "astutely written".[10] Variety called the film "superficial" and "clichéd", but predicted box office success.[1]
Box office
On the Italian opening weekend, the film grossed $2,496,402 from 373 theaters and debuted at number 2 on the box office chart, behind Us in the U.S.. It grossed $12,021,662 domestically and $8,468,038 overseas for a worldwide gross of $20,489,700.[2][3]
