MovieChat Forums > La migliore offerta (2014) Discussion > Entry to Virgil's Room of Women Portrait...

Entry to Virgil's Room of Women Portraits

posted 9 years ago by jadams414
13 replies | jump to latest

I am in agreement with several others, the ending was atrocious! It was too long a movie, considering he was scammed, by so many he cared about, causing him to go insane. (Why wouldn't he? It was his whole being).
I'm curious as to how "they" got into the art room, without his combination key code. I also don't understand the folders in the trunk, with that gizmo. Or why we need to take a walk with him, discovering all these things. Like, how did he know to find that car, or that she "might" be in Prague?
I suppose my biggest conflict is this: What if he didn't behave the way he did? I mean,one cannot predict another person's actions. Billy might have felt he could, but there are extenuating situations that could've prevented him from peeping in on her, when he was supposed to have left the villa. And lastly, I kept telling myself that it's "a mystery movie", and therefore made to have twists & turns that don't seem reasonable later on. Yes, his treasured portraits were stolen, and he thought these people (especially Billy) cared about him. How they were able to get into the room, befuddles me! Makes one 'suspect' of anyone they've come in contact with, if $$ is involved, huh? Half-way thru, I was suspicious of Robert & Clare. After all, they're similar in age, both nice looking, and yet . . . ? Hmmm!

[–] Xeokym 9 years ago

This was covered pretty thoroughly in the other topics, you should read them more thoroughly. They got the combination because when he brought the girl in and told her not to look, she obviously peeked. If you mean what was that little electronic thing, it was a tracking device so they knew where he was and when he was coming, so they could get everything set up quickly. The repair shop was just a front, as the landlady (dwarf) said she rented it out to him "on occasion." Robert was obviously not really running a repair shop so they needed the tracking device so he could go there and appear to be "open" when he was coming with more parts of the automaton. I don't really want to get into too much detail because this is just the same stuff I said in other topics & went over in quite a bit of detail already.

I can't understand your crazy moon language.

[–] jadams414 9 years ago

Well, that explains a few things. If I appear stupid for not getting the other hints, it's because there's a lot of messages. I appreciate your knowledge. Who came up with the idea that she "peeked"? AND memorized the code? I find that hard to swallow.
As for the tracking device, Ah, now I understand. Far too much detail, but apparently, necessary, in order to make this ploy possible.

[–] Xeokym 9 years ago

I didn't say you were stupid, I just said most of your questions were already answered or discussed in the other topics.

Who came up with the idea that she "peeked"? AND memorized the code? I find that hard to swallow.

No one came up with that idea, it's just the only explanation as to how they got the entry code. Claire's character was very carefully "designed" to intrigue Virgil & pique his interest to the highest degree, so much so that he didn't even consider he was being railroaded. Everything she did was just so that she could gain his trust and gain access to his private chamber. It's blatantly obvious that she got the passcode that way because that was the end goal of the group: to distract Virgil with his version of the "perfect girl," gain entry to his private collection, and rip him off. They didn't directly say that Billy came up with the whole caper purely for revenge due to Virgil never appreciating him, but it's still pretty obvious based on a lot of things Billy says to Virgil. The partnership, for Virgil, was to make money, and hoard paintings only for himself to appreciate. For Billy, however, I think it was less about the money, and more about being good artistically. After years of not being properly appreciated, he struck back at Virgil & hit him where it hurt the most.

No, they didn't show Claire actually peeking (the camera was back behind them and she had her hands covering her eyes) but it's safe to assume that she peeked. Because Virgil had never previously allowed anyone near that room.

Memorizing a passcode would be fairly easy if the name or number was 10 characters or less...no one said the passcode was anything elaborate. I could easily memorize people's locker combinations in school just glancing over their shoulders...I don't know why that's "hard to swallow." *shrug*

[–] TheHG 8 years ago

Maybe Claire did not need to peek and memorize the code ... it is apparent that Bob is something of a mechanical (technical, electronic) whiz, he could take apart and put together stuff. Claire's role was that of locating the exact site of the treasure, and she patiently let her unwitting victim lead her to it.

I'm sorry to say that I sort of sensed that Oldman was going to be conned as soon as it was evident Claire was manipulating him with tantalizing mysteries about herself as a person and as a client. Also, there were worrisome (suspicious) moments, e.g. when Oldman pretended to leave "her" house but staid back and hid behind a statue. She came out of her hiding place to bolt the door. Her cellphone rang then and whoever called might have told her that Oldman must still be in the room spying on her. So she continued talking and flirting (?!) with her caller as she walked into the kitchen. Then we hear a glass breaking and her making a screaming sound as if she'd stepped on the broken glass. She was barefoot, after-all. She comes back out limping into the hall, sits on a chair right across from the statue. She starts to tend to the "injured" foot, but at the same time she is exposing herself to Oldman. It was kind of a "Basic Instinct" moment!

As for Bob, I never trusted him from the start ... he was too slick.

The only one I did not catch on to was Billy. That character was kept in low profile, and we almost forget he is in this story until the very end with that portrait "gift" to Oldman.

[–] zaccaria 8 years ago

And maybe during their relation they entered the vault again, this time with open eyes. Maybe he even trusted to give her the password.

[–] Black_Lies_Matter 9 years ago

I think, with her being a pretty young girl acting as an extreme recluse, they thought they could pretty well predict how he would respond.
And the trip to Prague has to do with their conversation wherein she talks about feeling safe at the Night and Day restaurant. He was hoping that she put a little of her own authentic self into her forgery, and that she might show up some day.

[–] PaulDowsett 9 years ago

how did he know to find that car

The car was his, unless you're referring to a different car.

I also don't understand the folders in the trunk, with that gizmo.

Those were unused catalogues of Claire's items that Virgil's auction house had made. Virgil ripped one in half when she said she didn't want to sell after all.

The gizmo was a tracking device, installed by the gardener when Virgil arrived with the flowers for Claire and gave him his car keys.

What if he didn't behave the way he did? I mean,one cannot predict another person's actions

Billy was Virgil's lifelong friend, and knew his thesis as a student was on Vaucanson, the 18th century inventor. Leaving parts of the automation device around the house made Virgil go to Robert for advice. Virgil had only known Robert for "months", but Billy was already colluding with him. This allowed the two of them to manipulate Virgil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_de_Vaucanson

I was suspicious of Robert & Clare. After all, they're similar in age, both nice looking

Robert was in a relationship with Sarah (the one with the motorbike). He let her in on the scam after she nearly jeopardised it by telling Virgil she shouldn't trust him. This is made clear during the dinner, when Virgil tore up the catalogue.

[–] mme3924-1 9 years ago

It's interesting to watch this film a second time, and pick up the verbal and visual clues.

For instance, when Claire first talks to Oldman on the phone she says "I know a lot about you, Mr. Oldman." That is flattering to him, but it's the truth; she does know a lot about him, via Billy.

Later he says to her in the villa, about her disease: "it's almost as if its unreal, Claire." Ha! Unreal, indeed.

Also, Robert says "if I didn't know she had this disease, I'd say she was a perfectly normal girl."

And Robert keeps using the word "strategy". He's talking about Virgil's strategy with Claire, but he's also talking about their strategy, which is to rob and destroy Virgil.

Something I'm unsure about though. When the girl comes into Robert's shop to say her aunt has gone missing and he gives her the tracking device. Was that deliberate, as in they wanted Virgil to see and understand what that little thing was so that when he found it later he'd know what they'd done to him? Just another part of their humiliation of him? Or was it coincidental? The girl just happened to come in at that moment? (It was also, of course, to clue us, the audience in, so that later, when we see him find the thing in his car trunk, we'll know they were tracking him).

[–] PaulDowsett 9 years ago

The girl just happened to come in at that moment? (It was also, of course, to clue us, the audience in, so that later, when we see him find the thing in his car trunk, we'll know they were tracking him).

Yes, I believe it was simply exposition for the audience. It's difficult to believe that Robert would have been able to keep his cool so well in front of Virgil, considering the tracker was so crucial to the scam, which would have been completely undermined if Virgil had discovered it in his car beforehand.

[–] korbendallas-2 8 years ago

Well, as you know already, the repair shop was just a temporary setup, a fake. While it is conceivable that an uninitiated random person could have confused it with is a real shop, the woman in the tracker scene acted as someone quite closely acquainted with Robert. She was not a random customer. This immediately means that the whole scene was an act staged for Virgil.

[–] Xenopharb (617) 7 years ago

Note that Robert arrives late to the shop as Virgil is waiting. That is because he is not normally there.

This unknown women could have been in on it too as someone who tracks Virgil, or she could have been a friend who really needed a tracker for her aunt. We do not know, but we do get to see what the tracker looks like.

[–] Kinsayder (47) 7 years ago

OK, so if the repair shop was "just a temporary setup, a fake", how was Robert able to gain Virgil's confidence so completely that the gang could be sure that Virgil would take the stolen automaton parts there and then ask Robert for relationship advice?

The whole automaton/Robert/repair shop aspect of the plot seemed both implausible and unnecessary (except to add intrigue to the movie). Billy, fake Claire and Fred (the caretaker) could have organised the seduction and scam on their own.

[–] 8 years ago

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