"The Burnt Orange Heresy" is an intriguing character-driven film. Despite the small cast and the limited scope, the depth of characterization was compelling, and the film was stylishly conceived around the esoteric world of modern art.

From the outset, it is clear that the art critic James Figueras is a con artist. He takes nearly sadistic delight in giving a talk to tourists in which he first tears down an art work, then builds it up with a contrary interpretation. By the end of the session, the entire group wants to buy a print of a non-existent painting.

At that group session, a young woman named Berenice Hollis is in attendance, and she and James begin an affair. James takes Berenice with him on a visit to a splendid villa in Milan owned by the connoisseur Nils Cassidy, who is played by the puckish looking Mick Jagger. The perceptive Nils senses that he can use James to acquire a priceless painting from the eccentric artist Jerome Debrey. A small but important detail is a phone message to James indicating that a check that he recently wrote has bounced.

Debrey, brilliantly performed by Donald Sutherland, is a recluse with a studio on the grounds of Cassidy's estate. Debrey takes a liking to Berenice, and one of the best scenes in the film is their intimate conversation wherein Debrey waxes philosophical and provides her with a life lesson or two.

But the unscrupulous James Figueras plans to take advantage of Debrey by setting fire to his art studio and pawning off on the public Debrey's final "masterpiece" that was painted in a slapdash way by Figueras himself!

The close of the film was sad due to the fate of poor Berenice. But there is a touching moment when it is revealed that the girl from Esko, Minnesota, received a signed portrait of her that was painted by Debney. In a film that dealt primarily with the pretentious and snobbish nature of modern art, there is a breath of fresh air in a simple portrait of a kind human face that was likely the final composition of a modern master, Jerome Debrey.

Claes Bang is the unfulfilled writer/art critic "James Figueras" who makes his living lecturing and duping wealthy tourists to Italy. At one such talk, he hooks up with the gorgeous Elizabeth Debicki "Berenice" and he takes her to the estate of wealthy art dealer "Joseph Cassidy" (Sir Mick Jagger) who is determined to get hold of a painting by the legendary, but reclusive "Jerome Debney" (Donald Sutherland) who lives on his Lake Como property. Jagger manages to persuade/blackmail his new guest into "obtaining" one of his very rare paintings (a previous gallery fore having destroyed much of his previous work),but when he meets with "Debney" he discovers that it's going to be a nigh on impossible task. The theory is interesting, sadly the execution is poor - Bang and Debicki just don't gel, and as the narrative of the story starts to heat up, the performances just go off the boil. Sutherland is a class act, but has little to work with here and though Jagger is quite good as the unscrupulous collector he features sparingly. The story came across as sort of half-finished to me, and has a plot so riddled with gaps that after a while it just become annoying. It does take quite an interesting swipe at the world of the critic, however - emperor's new clothes and that kind of thing, but it isn't enough, sorry....

This is the story of a con-man who goes way over the line to insure his legacy as a great art critic. I realized that James Figueras' (Claes Bang) scheme would go up in flames (not meant to be a pun),as soon as Berenice Hollis (Elizabeth Debicki) showed him her burnt orange fingertip. With her print now in the phony Jerome Debney (Donald Sutherland) painting, the ruse would eventually unravel, and it was uncanny how many patrons at Joseph Cassidy's (Mick Jagger) gallery exhibition would chime in with oblique references to his murder of Berenice and the provenance of the painting. How could they know? Because what could have been devised as a challenging caper flick fell apart under the extremely misguided plan set in motion when Figueras decided to steal a blank canvas and torch the Debney cottage. Even the unfortunate Debney had the foresight to have an envelope full of dead flies delivered to the murderer before he died. What I can't figure out is why Berenice didn't make a hasty beeline away from Figueras after the first time he tried to kill her; she insured her demise by taunting him as he was trying to decide what his next move would be. Foolish girl. Figueras had to know the jig was up when Cassidy, at the gallery showing, mentioned that the missing young woman would probably float into view some day. What Figueras couldn't know was that the only piece of Debney art in the entire world was now sitting in Berenice's home back in Minnesota, perhaps never to be admired or celebrated as a one of a kind. The ambiguous ending of the picture leaves it up to the viewer to decide how exactly justice would seek out the malevolent James Figueras, but one thing is certain, his face would never appear on the cover of a Rolling Stone.