In London, Harry Donovan (Jason Patric) is arrested for the murder of a Rembrandt owner. The movie flashes back four months earlier. Harry is an art forger in NYC struggling to get his own work noticed. He's approached by three mystery men to paint a Rembrandt for $500k. He goes to Amsterdam to study Rembrandt and decides to fake a lost picture. In Paris, he gets romantic with Marieke van den Broeck (Irène Jacob) who claims to be a student. She unwittingly helps him. However it turns out that she is the pre-eminent Rembrandt expert and she is the only one who won't authenticate his picture.
The movie is solid for the first half. Then the movie suggests that Harry killed the Japanese guy. It makes it impossible to root for Harry. The movie should show the bad guy killing the Japanese dude after Harry leaves right at that point. It's not a worthy mystery to keep if it takes away the rooting interest. Also the court case and everything afterward is too rushed. There is no case against the villain other than the testimony of his co-conspirator. The defense seems to hinge on proving the picture as a fake but that proves nothing about the murder. That would change his motivation but the murder still stands. Once the courtroom scene starts, the movie stops making sense.
The movie is solid for the first half. Then the movie suggests that Harry killed the Japanese guy. It makes it impossible to root for Harry. The movie should show the bad guy killing the Japanese dude after Harry leaves right at that point. It's not a worthy mystery to keep if it takes away the rooting interest. Also the court case and everything afterward is too rushed. There is no case against the villain other than the testimony of his co-conspirator. The defense seems to hinge on proving the picture as a fake but that proves nothing about the murder. That would change his motivation but the murder still stands. Once the courtroom scene starts, the movie stops making sense.