THE CHRISTOPHERS

Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) was once the toast of London's swinging 1960s art scene, but decades on he's a broke, reclusive relic living amid the clutter of his own legend, having not picked up a brush in years. His estranged children hire a forger to complete his unfinished works so they can be "discovered" and sold after his death. His two estranged children enlist Lori, a young painter and sometime-forger, to pose as a prospective assistant and gain access to a fabled series of unfinished canvases Julian has buried deep in his home studio, in a deceptive bid to secure an inheritance for themselves. ‍

What begins as a straightforward con complicates as Lori and Julian's relationship deepens, and the film shifts from art-world caper into something more intimate. The narrative gamesmanship isn't about putting one over on the audience; rather, the film is structured to reveal dimensions to its characters that aren't immediately apparent. Written by Ed Solomon and shot through with Soderbergh's usual formal control, it's less a heist movie than a two-hander meditation on authorship, legacy, and what it really means to finish someone else's work.