By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
Sir Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel star in a waspish battle of wits set in the London art world
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
This sly, twisty London art-world comedy-drama finds Sir Ian McKellen on superb form as Julian Sklar, a bad-boy British artist of the 1960s who hasn’t painted for decades.
Instead, Julian spends his solitary days cashing in on his fleeting fame as the nasty, Simon Cowell-style judge of 1990s TV show Art Fight, popping on a cheesy beret and recording personalised video messages for his fans. Meanwhile, Julian’s ghastly children (James Corden and Baby Reindeer’s Jessica Gunning) are eager to get their mitts on some cold, hard inheritance.
They recruit an impoverished art restorer called Lori (Michaela Coel), supposedly to be their father’s new assistant. In fact, they’ve hired her to forge ‘The Christophers’, Julian’s legendary series of unfinished paintings, whose originals are hidden somewhere inside his dishevelled Bloomsbury townhouse.
Prolific filmmaker Steven Soderbergh may be best known for Ocean’s Eleven, but his 37th feature is no heist caper. The Christophers mainly revolves around two people talking in a room – but what a thrilling twosome they are, with McKellen relishing every morsel of dialogue and Coel an inscrutable, coolly watchful opponent. In fact, her Sphinx-like presence is what really makes this battle of wills special.
Written by Ed Solomon (Bill & Ted, Men In Black), The Christophers can feel stagey at times, but there are enough playful rug-pulls and layers to keep viewers engaged – and the acting is top-notch. (100 minutes)
