MOVIE INFORMATION:
Rating: R (for some sexual content/nudity, language, drug use and violence)
Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama, Mystery & Suspense
In Theaters: Aug 7, 2020 Limited
Runtime: 98 minutes
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Starring: Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Mick Jagger and Donald Sutherland
The art world and the underworld collide in director Giuseppe Capotondi's elegant and erotic neo-noir thriller, The Burnt Orange Heresy.
Set in present day Italy, irresistibly charismatic art critic James Figueras hooks up with provocative and alluring fellow American, Berenice Hollis. He's a classic anti-hero in the making with a charm that masks his deep ambition, while she's an innocent touring Europe, enjoying the freedom of being whoever she wishes.
The new lovers travel to the lavish and opulent Lake Como estate of powerful art collector, Cassidy. Their host reveals he is the patron of Jerome Debney, the reclusive J.D. Salinger of the art world, and he has a simple request: for James to steal a Debney masterpiece from the artist's studio, whatever the cost. As the couple spend time with the legendary Debney, they start to realize that nothing about artist nor their mission is what it seems.
But James is a man of deep, lurking ambition and he will do anything, from arson and burglary to murder, in order to further his career...
BOOK INFORMATION:
Originally Published 1971
Fast-talking, backstabbing, womanizing, and fiercely ambitious art critic James Figueras will do anything—blackmail, burglary, and beyond—to make a name for himself. When an unscrupulous collector offers Figueras a career-making chance to interview Jacques Debierue, the greatest living—and most reclusive—artist, the critic must decide how far he will go to become the art-world celebrity he hungers to be. Will Figueras stop at the opportunity to skim some cream for himself or push beyond morality’s limits to a bigger payoff?
Crossing the art world with the underworld, Willeford creates a novel of dark hue and high aesthetic polish. The Burnt Orange Heresy—the 1970s crime classic now back in print—has lost none of its savage delights as it re-creates the making of a murderer, calmly and with exquisite tension, while satirizing the workings of the art world as the ultimate con.
THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
This was my first Charles Willeford book and because of this book, he will be included as one of my favorite mystery and thriller authors for writing this neo-noir femme fatale murder mystery set in the art world, that is now a major motion picture by Sony Pictures Classics.
The Burnt Orange Heresy is a classic book about greed, ambition and obsession - a play on the human psyche on what motivates people to risk it all only to gain power, fame, and fortune. This is a quick read that is written in three parts. This book was simply irresistible and moved fast - so fast the crime is a gut wrenching punch. Each of the characters were developed well and in a short book, delivered a tight plot that will keep you guessing.
I highly recommend this book and then watch the movie too because it was absolutely fascinating.
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT:
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 Hoke Moseley. Willeford published steadily from the 1940s, but vaulted to wider attention with the first Hoke Moseley book, Miami Blues (1984), which is considered one of its era's most influential works of crime fiction. Film adaptations have been made of four of Willeford's novels: Cockfighter, Miami Blues, The Woman Chaser and The Burnt Orange Heresy.
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