The Burnt Orange Heresy, artful premise fails to deliver the goods

The Burnt Orange Heresy, the first film in a decade directed by Italy’s Giuseppe Capotondi, begins very promisingly but quickly loses steam

The luminous Elizabeth Debicki in The Burnt Orange Heresy. Picture www.joseharo.com

The quirky, hard-to-classify crime novels written by Miami-based Charles Willeford (1919-1988) have rarely been brought to the screen: there was Cockfighter (1974), directed by Monte Hellman, and Miami Blues (1990), directed by George Armitage, and now we have an adaptation of the author’s 1971 novel The Burnt Orange Heresy, a strange tale set in the world of art and relocated, for some reason or other, from Miami to the Lake Como area of Northern Italy.

The story involves an art critic named James Figueras who delivers lectures to visiting Americans about contemporary European art. He likes to tease his gullible followers by persuading them to admire a painting of manifestly average quality, but having fun at the expense of culture tourists is beginning to lose its appeal. When he’s invited to stay at the lakeside palazzo owned by wealthy art collector Joseph Cassidy, he takes along his new girlfriend, Berenice Hollis. The other key character in the drama is Jerome Debney, a world-famous artist who lives in seclusion on Cassidy’s estate and whose work hasn’t been accessible for a very long time.

These characters are portrayed by a most interesting collection of actors. Denmark’s Claes Bang, memorable as the suave gallery custodian in The Square, plays the jaded Figueras; statuesque Australian beauty Elizabeth Debicki is the alluring and rather mysterious Berenice; the secretive Debney is played by Donald Sutherland (who was a late replacement for Christopher Walken); and Mick Jagger brings to the role of Cassidy a barely controlled menace and the charm of a coiled snake, a character who comes out with enigmatic dialogue like “Never let a thing’s worth obscure its value”.

The Burnt Orange Heresy, the first film in a decade directed by Italy’s Giuseppe Capotondi, begins very promisingly indeed. James meets Berenice when she attends one of his lectures and the attraction between them is instant. In no time at all they’ve become lovers, but is she who she seems to be? Debicki’s subtle interpretation keeps us guessing.

Once the plot reveals itself, however, the film loses some of the intrigue it promised at the start. Cassidy offers James the opportunity of his professional lifetime – the chance to interview Debney. There is, however, a condition: James must, by fair means or foul, acquire one of the paintings that Debney has, apparently, been secretly creating over the past several years. Ultimately, it’s thanks to Berenice that James is allowed access to the great artist’s studio – but, once there, things prove not to be as he had imagined they would be.

With its shadowy, evocative photography by David Ungaro, The Burnt Orange Heresy promises more than it ultimately delivers. The casting is so good, and so interesting, that more might have been made from the unusual premise.

As it is, Debicki confirms that, once she finds a really good script and a really creative director, she is capable of achieving something wonderful.

Rating: ★★★½

The Burnt Orange Heresy (MA15+), limited release.