When two of artist Barbora Kysilkova’s most valuable paintings are stolen from a gallery at Frogner in Oslo, the police are able to find the thief after a few days, but the paintings are nowhere to be found. Barbora goes to the trial in hopes of finding clues, but instead she ends up asking the thief if she can paint a portrait of him. This will be the start of a very unusual friendship. Over three years, the cinematic documentary follows the incredible story of the artist looking for her stolen paintings, while at the same time turning the thief into art.
Directed by Benjamin Ree
art
culture
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Letterboxd
3.9 / 5
Where to Watch
Crew
Benjamin Ree
Director
Benjamin Ree
Writer
Uno Helmersson
Original Music Composer
Kristoffer Kumar
Director of Photography
Benjamin Ree
Director of Photography
Morgan Neville
Executive Producer
Ingvil Giske
Producer
Popular Reviews
28 reviews
Dustin Franklin
6.0★ · 03/31/25
What an odd couple.
What an odd couple.
inio fujimoto
8.0★ · 09/13/23
Arthouse belgesel de böyle oluyormuş.
Arthouse belgesel de böyle oluyormuş.
Ori
8.0★ · 03/24/21
First film I've seen in an actual theater in a year! And what a weird and wonderful story this is. Such a beautifully edited doc that shows the nature of this bizarre friendship! I just wanted a bit more closure (maybe via title-cards?) at the end, and it would have been perfect.
First film I've seen in an actual theater in a year! And what a weird and wonderful story this is. Such a beautifully edited doc that shows the nature of this bizarre friendship! I just wanted a bit more closure (maybe via title-cards?) at the end, and it would have been perfect.
Davechild
8.0★ · 01/21/21
Sweeping, moving doc about a painter who confronts and paints the thief who stole two of her paintings. It’s epic and oh so good.
Sweeping, moving doc about a painter who confronts and paints the thief who stole two of her paintings. It’s epic and oh so good.
carvelli3
7.0★ · 10/02/20
Watched via a press screener from the BFI London Film Festival
It’s amazing to see what sparks creative inspiration for people. In the case of Barbora Kysilkova, the artist who is one of the subjects of Benjamin Rees’ new documentary The Painter and the Thief, that inspiration often comes from the darker moments in her life. One of those moments came in 2015 when two of her oil paintings, valued at €20,000, were stolen from the Galleri Nobel in Oslo, Norway. The trial that followed led to her meeting Karl Bertil-Nordland, one of the two men charged with stealing the paintings, and prompted the question that Kysilkova asked to kickstart the story of this film: “I wonder if I could paint you?”
Head over to Loud & Clear for the rest of my review.
UPDATED: 2020 — I’m Thinking of Ranking Things
Watched via a press screener from the BFI London Film Festival
It’s amazing to see what sparks creative inspiration for people. In the case of Barbora Kysilkova, the artist who is one of the subjects of Benjamin Rees’ new documentary The Painter and the Thief, that inspiration often comes from the darker moments in her life. One of those moments came in 2015 when two of her oil paintings, valued at €20,000, were stolen from the Galleri Nobel in Oslo, Norway. The trial that followed led to her meeting Karl Bertil-Nordland, one of the two men charged with stealing the paintings, and prompted the question that Kysilkova asked to kickstart the story of this film: “I wonder if I could paint you?”
Head over to Loud & Clear for the rest of my review.
