Brush With Fate

Instead of developing the crucial narrative thread involving the daughter of a Nazi who stole a Vermeer during WWII, director Brent Shields' adaptation of Susan Vreeland's novel, Girl in Hyacinth Blue, slogs through anecdotal dramas about the painting's previous owners. European History teacher Cornelia Englebrecht (Glenn Close) welcomes new art instructor Richard (Thomas Gibson) to the tony high-school where she's employed. After sizing up his integrity, she shares a secret: Her father owns a Vermeer that Cornelia keeps hidden in a museum-type space at her home. Cornelia regales Richard with the provenance of the unknown masterpiece, while remaining strangely...