''The Burnt Orange Heresy'' is a 2019 crime thriller film directed by Giuseppe Capotondi and with a screenplay by Scott Smith. The film is based on the book of the same name by

Charles Willeford Charles Ray Willeford III (January 2, 1919 – March 27, 1988) was an American writer. An author of fiction, poetry, autobiography, and literary criticism, Willeford is best known for his series of novels featuring hardboiled detective fiction, ...

and stars

Claes Bang Claes Kasper Bang (; born 28 April 1967) is a Danish actor and musician. He is best known for playing the leading role of Christian in Ruben Östlund's 2017 film '' The Square'', which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and for the r ...

, Elizabeth Debicki,

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

, and Donald Sutherland. ''The Burnt Orange Heresy'' was selected as the closing film at the 76th Venice International Film Festival and was released on March 6, 2020, by Sony Pictures Classics.

Synopsis

Art critic James Figueras is enlisted by a wealthy art dealer to steal a painting from reclusive painter Jerome Debney.

Cast

as James Figueras * Elizabeth Debicki as Berenice Hollis *

as Joseph Cassidy * Donald Sutherland as Jerome Debney * Rosalind Halstead as Evelina Macri * Alessandro Fabrizi as Rodolfo

Production

In February 2018, Elizabeth Debicki and

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awar ...

were cast in the film adaptation of

's book ''The Burnt Orange Heresy'', to play Berenice Hollis and artist Jerome Debney, respectively. In April 2018,

joined the film to play the lead role of James Figueras, a fiercely ambitious art critic and thief. In early September 2018,

was cast to play Joseph Cassidy, an art dealer. In late September 2018, Donald Sutherland was cast in the film, replacing Walken, to play an enigmatic painter who becomes the target of an art-world heist.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

on the film began late September 2018 in

Lake Como Lake Como ( it, Lago di Como , ; lmo, label=Western Lombard, Lagh de Còmm , ''Cómm'' or ''Cùmm'' ), also known as Lario (; after the la, Larius Lacus), is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of , making it the thir ...

, Italy.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

on September 7, 2019. Shortly after, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on March 6, 2020. Following the closure of theaters a week later due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Sony Pictures Classics opted to hold the film for when theaters re-open instead of putting the film on digital platforms. It was re-released on August 7, 2020.

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds approval rating based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads, "''The Burnt Orange Heresy'' has a certain stylish charm, even if -- much like the art world it depicts -- it'll strike some viewers as pretentious." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film holds a rating of 57 out of 100, based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." The ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'' notes that the artist adds the image of a fly to each of his paintings, "a metaphor for sin and evil"; the image recurs throughout "this dark fable".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnt Orange Heresy (film), The 2019 films 2019 crime drama films 2019 crime thriller films 2019 thriller drama films 2010s heist films American crime drama films American crime thriller films American thriller drama films American heist films English-language Italian films Italian crime drama films Italian crime thriller films Italian thriller drama films Italian heist films Films shot in Italy Films based on mystery novels Films based on American novels HanWay Films films Sony Pictures Classics films Works by Scott Smith 2010s English-language films 2010s American films