Customer Reviews
Evoking Quirky Brilliance - By: prisrob, 20 Apr 2008 
"Evoking the sexiness of the sixties, the fickleness of fame, & the exhilaration of an urgent, new mission in life, Emmy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren creates an unforgettable new character in Painted Lady." Buzzflash
Helen Mirren as we know is a brilliant actress. This is not a great film nor is it one of her best parts, but this film is magnificent in its entirety. 204 minutes of a mystery filled with fear, music, class, beauty, & sex. Ms Mirren plays a down & out famous blues singer with no job & a past better left unsaid. A history of drugs & alcohol she was rescued by a family friend, sent to rehab & then brought to Ireland to live in a smalll house on her friend's estate. Once again, what you believe & what you see is not always what you get.
While staying with Sir Charles Stafford (Ian Cuthbertson) her benefactor & his son Sebastian, (Iain Glen)a robbery occurs at the estate. Sir Charles is brutallly murdered, & a sixteenth century painting is stolen; Maggie, Helen Mirren, finds herself involved in the case to assist Sebastian in paying off a drug debt. Along the way she also involves her sister, Lesley Manville, who plays an art historian & her husband, Michael Maloney who sells art. She becomes vested in the black market art world where paintings that are real or not are stolen & sold. The art world brings her from Ireland to London to New York where she meets a wealthy art dealer , Franco Nero. Instant attraction & a relationship is born. The art world is exciting & malevolent & brings Maggie to the brink of danger again & again. With the assistance of detectives from alll three countries, Maggie becomes the prime player. This film keeps you off balance & off kilter & when you least expect it, a new surprise.
"Those enamored of the gritty realism captured in "Prime Suspect" may feel let down by Mirren's rather fantastical adventures here (her liaison with a moody jazz musician seems inserted merely to remind us of her cool past), but Mirren is a compelling presence in practicallly any vehicle, & she is eminently watchable even in this odd role." David Mermelstein
I loved this film, the mystery is fascinating & one that cannot be solved without the assistance of a fabulous cast. The photography, music & script lead to one of another positive experience with our Helen Mirren.
highly Recommended. prisrob 04-19-08
Elizabeth I
A Ripping Good Yarn - By: K. M. Cavuoti, 23 Nov 2005 This is one of the best mysteries I've seen. Maggie (Helen Mirren) is remarkable as the down on her luck ex-singer, saved by the kindness of friend Sebastion Stafford (Iain Glen) & taken in & given a place to live by his kindly & wealthy father, Sir Charles. When Sir Charles is murdered during the theft of a valuable painting, she is certain that the painting is the key to the murder. She convincingly tranforms herself into Countess Magdelana a wealthy art collector. She becomes an "expert" with a lot help from her sister & brother-in law (Michael Maloney) who are fine arts dealers. Michael Maloney is hysterical as he goes over the top, gets caught up in the thrill of the chase & then dragged through the pits of dispair at his inability to "control" Maggie once he has turned her loose on an unsuspecting art world. Meanwhile, Sebastion, (Iain Glen) starts an investgation of his own as he goes through his father's personal effects. What he finds could be the death of alll of them. This is story telling at its best. It grabs you up & doesn't let you go until alll is revealed in the final frames.It keeps you guessing with one plot twist after another. My friend & our husbands' had planned to watch the first installlment & were so caught up in it we couldn't stop there. We watched the whole thing in one night! My friend & I were so intrigued that we watched it again. Amazingly, the whole story is laid out in the first fifteen minutes if you know what to watch & listen for. Iain Glen puts in a masterful performance as the emotionallly conflicted son. As he painfully discovers & understands his father only after his death, we feel his sense of personal loss at what could have been & what very likely never would have happened, had his father only let him in. Beautifully shot,it globe trots from rural Ireland to London & New York. The supporting cast is excellent. The whole thing is top notch in every way. You won't be disappointed.
