The Last Vermeer | 2019 | R | – 4.5.5

Why is “The Last Vermeer” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “some language, violence and nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of kissing scenes, several scenes of scantily clad women and nude artwork in a non-sexual context, discussions of infidelity, a few scenes of executions by firing squad with some blood splatter, an attempted suicide, a man in a jail cell, a couple of punches and a scuffle in a crowd, a few arguments and discussions of Nazi Germany and the looting of art collections, and at least 2 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on a true story from Jonathan Lopez’s book “The Man Who Made Vermeers”: After WWII a prominent and flamboyant Dutch artist (Guy Pearce) is accused of conspiring with the Nazis and selling a valuable painting by Johannes Vermeer to Hermann Göring. An officer (Claes Bang) working for the Allied provisional government sets out to prove that the painting was a fake and the Nazis were actually swindled. Also with Vicky Krieps, Roland Møller, August Diehl, Olivia Grant, Adrian Scarborough and Andrew Havill. Directed by Dan Friedkin. [Running Time: 1:57]

The Last Vermeer SEX/NUDITY 4

 – Women wearing revealing lingerie dance and caress men at a party (cleavage, bare abdomens and legs are seen and breasts are seen through sheer fabric); one woman seems to be topless under an open robe and a man kisses her bare abdomen (we see part of her bare breast). A nude woman reclines on a settee as a man paints her (we see her bare back, buttocks, legs and the side of her bare breast). Nude paintings of a woman is shown in several scenes (we see bare breasts, abdomen, buttocks and pubic hair). Women wear low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in a few scenes. A statue of a nude woman is seen (bare breasts, abdomen, pubic hair and legs are seen).
► A married man and a woman kiss in her apartment; they sit on her bed, he sees a photo of her dead husband and they talk and lie in bed together fully clothed (no sex is implied). A man kisses a woman and she says that she is going to meet her husband.
► A man and a woman kiss. A woman sees her husband talking to another woman and she thinks they seem flirtatious.
► A husband accuses his wife of going to parties “dressed as a whore.” A man describes parties during the war, where there was free booze, free drugs and easy women. People refer to a work of art as being titled, “Christ and the Adulteress.” A man asks another man if his wife is leaving him. A man says, “Marriage is an unnatural state.” A reference is made to artwork of a “pornographic nature.” A painting is shown in a courtroom and it looks like a number of bodies but it is hard to discern detail.

The Last Vermeer VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A man stands against a pole and facing a firing squad in a town square; several soldiers with rifles take aim and shoot the man while people watch (we see this a couple of times and one time blood sprays when the man is struck). A man in handcuffs is led out of a building toward a firing squad; he has a bloody head and face, presumably from a beating, he pleads for help as a crowd of people watch and yell, and the man is shot and falls dead (we see blood splatter). We see a man in handcuffs and with blood on his head, after presumably an encounter with police officers.
► Two men question another man and he draws a gun on them; he holds the gun to his own head and pulls the trigger (it is not loaded). Three men run through passageways in a prison and are chased by other men with guns, and they take a truck and speed away, crashing through a gate. A man with a gun cocks it and stands next to another man threateningly, as another man questions him. A man punches another man in the face. A man spits on another man and another man punches the man that spat. A man shoves another man and raises his fist to him (he does not hit him). A man grabs a man’s hands and threatens to break them, shoves him onto a cot in a cell and yells at him. A man threatens to break both of another man’s legs if he tries to get away. A man is put in a jail cell and told that he may have no visitors when he is uncooperative in an investigation of art theft. A man starts a fight in a courtroom to distract attention while another man splashes a liquid on a valuable painting.
► A man says to another man, “You need someone to nail to a cross.” A man says, “The war killed us,” about his wife and their marriage. People yell as three men walk through the crowd to a courthouse. A man talks about his father beating him for painting when he was a child. We hear about people being found guilty of collaborating with the enemy during and after a war. A man talks about trying to find the person that stole works of art and sold them to the Nazis. We hear about art collections being looted during a war. We hear that a man died of a heart attack. A husband and his wife seem distant and we hear about her activity during the war and that she consorted with German officers to get information for the resistance. We hear that the story is set in 1945 after the fall of Hitler’s Reich.
► A man sees areas in rubble and a young girl stands on top of a pile of rocks (presumably a fallen building). Men stand in line for work.

The Last Vermeer LANGUAGE 5

 – About 2 F-words, 2 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for Germans, name-calling (wicked, bluster, convenient justice, boy scouts, insane, swindler, relentless, stammering fool, honorary Nazi, traitor, opportunist, narcissist, devil, undeserving, evil, agnostic, apathetic, jumped up spiff, creep, criminal haircut, rotten artist, lecherous drunk, crusaders), 3 religious profanities (GD). | profanity glossary |

The Last Vermeer SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man smokes a cigarette and drinks a glass of whiskey, a man finishes another man’s whiskey as they leave a room, a man drinks from a flask and spits it out, people smoke and drink at a party, a man drinks from a bottle of liquor in a few scenes, a man makes a comment about “hooch,” a man describes parties during the war where there was free booze and free drugs and easy women, a reference is made to a man having a drinking problem, people drink in a bar, several people drink cognac, people drink champagne in a couple of scenes, and people drink at a party. A man smokes cigarettes in many scenes, and a man smokes a cigar.

The Last Vermeer DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Nazis, World War II, Han van Meegeren, Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, redemption, justice, forgery, credibility, intuition, fascism, adultery, espionage, forgiveness, art criticism, fame, resistance movement, truth, jealousy.

The Last Vermeer MESSAGE

 – Art criticism is unreliable bunk. To survive a time of total, compromises are common.