The Goldfinch Dvd

The Goldfinch is a 2019 American drama film directed by John Crowley, written by Peter Straughan, and adapted from the 2013 novel of the same name by Donna Tartt. The film stars Ansel Elgort as Theodore Decker, whose life changes after his mother dies in a terrorist bombing at a museum and a dying man convinces him to take a famous painting called The Goldfinch from the museum. Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard, Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, and Nicole Kidman appear in supporting roles.

Film rights to the novel were sold to Warner Bros. and RatPac Entertainment, with ICM Partners brokering the deal. Two years later, Crowley was hired to direct the film adaptation, and Elgort was selected to portray Theodore Decker. Most of the remaining cast joined from October 2017 to January 2018. Filming began in New York City in January 2018 and moved to Albuquerque in April 2018 for the rest of the production.

The Goldfinch premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was theatrically released in the United States on September 13, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and was a box-office bomb, with estimated losses for the studio as high as $50 million.

Plot

Thirteen-year-old Theodore Decker’s mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In the aftermath of the explosion, a dying man urges him to take a painting – The Goldfinch – and his engraved ring. Theo hides the painting at his apartment, and is placed with the Barbours, the family of his childhood friend Andy. Theo reconnects with Andy and becomes close to Mrs. Barbour, who encourages his interest in antiques and art.

Following the instructions of the dying man, Theo locates the antiques shop run by James “Hobie” Hobart, whose partner Welton “Welty” Blackwell gave the ring to Theo to return. Hobie allows Theo to visit Pippa, Welty’s niece who was injured in the bombing, and the children bond before Pippa is sent to live with her aunt in Texas. Theo visits Hobie regularly and settles into life with the Barbours, as Andy hints that his parents are considering adopting him. However, Theo’s estranged father Larry, claiming to be newly sober, arrives with his girlfriend Xandra to relocate Theo to Las Vegas; Theo brings The Goldfinch, keeping it hidden.

In Las Vegas, Theo befriends Boris, a Ukrainian classmate whose father is physically abusive. Boris, who has also lost his mother, introduces Theo to drugs and alcohol, which follow him into adulthood. Deep in gambling debt, Larry fails to extort Theo’s education fund, and is killed in a drunk driving accident. Theo runs away to New York, taking Xandra’s dog Popper and the painting, but is unable to convince Boris to join him. Hobie allows Theo to live with him.

Eight years later, Theo has made Hobie’s shop successful, selling his restored antiques. He runs into Andy’s older brother Platt, who reveals that Andy and their father were killed in a boating accident during one of Mr. Barbour’s bipolar episodes. Theo visits the ailing Mrs. Barbour, and reconnects with her daughter Kitsey. Reeve, a disgruntled art dealer, confronts Theo for selling him a fake. Having deduced that Theo stole The Goldfinch, Reeve accuses him of using it as collateral to finance his shop. Unknown to anyone else, Theo keeps the wrapped painting in a storage locker.

Theo becomes engaged to Andy’s younger sister Kitsey, but harbors a secret love for Pippa, who now lives in London. Theo catches Kitsey cheating on him, but they remain engaged due to his love for Mrs. Barbour and Kitsey’s permissive attitude toward his drug habit. Pippa visits Theo and they confess their feelings for each other, but she tearfully rejects him, citing the instability caused by their shared childhood trauma.

Seeking to buy drugs at a bar, Theo is reunited with Boris, who apologizes for stealing The Goldfinch years ago, using it to finance his life of crime before it was then stolen from him. At his storage locker, Theo discovers Boris had replaced the painting with a school textbook. After a visit from Reeve, a heartbroken Hobie confronts Theo for selling his restorations as “real” forgeries, and the theft and loss of The Goldfinch.

At Theo’s and Kitsey’s engagement party, Boris arrives with a plan to recover The Goldfinch. Theo accompanies him to Amsterdam, where Boris seizes the painting at gunpoint, but they are ambushed by another pair of criminals. Boris kills one of them but is shot, and Theo is forced to kill the other assailant, but another man escapes with the painting. Theo tries to commit suicide in his hotel room, but is rescued by Boris, who explains that he had a tip called in to the police to recover the painting.

Organizing a raid, the authorities safely recover the painting along with other lost and stolen art, including a Rembrandt. Boris persuades Theo that this was all for the greater good: The Goldfinch survives, and other lost works were recovered. Theo returns home to repair his damaged relationships.

Cast

Ansel Elgort as adult Theo Decker
Oakes Fegley as young Theo Decker
Aneurin Barnard as adult Boris
Finn Wolfhard as young Boris
Ashleigh Cummings as adult Pippa
Willa Fitzgerald as adult Kitsey Barbour
Aimée Laurence as young Pippa
Ryan Foust as young Andy Barbour
Sarah Paulson as Xandra
Luke Wilson as Larry
Jeffrey Wright as Hobie
Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Barbour
Denis O’Hare as Lucius Reeve
Boyd Gaines as Mr. Barbour
Peter Jacobson as Naaman Silver
Robert Joy as “Welty” Blackwell
Luke Kleintank as adult Platt Barbour
Hailey Wist as Theo’s mother
Robert Turano as Detective