Cinema: The Duke offers charming, warm-hearted tale of the "art thief" who “borrowed” a Goya

The long, long line of British comedies about quirky underdog Brits doing something utterly eccentric and really rather extraordinary gains a worthy addition with the release, at long last, of The Duke.

Very sadly all the Covid delays mean that its director Roger Michell, who passed away last autumn, hasn’t lived to see it reach the big screens.

But as a final movie, it stands as a glowing testament, a rich, funny and hugely evocative portrait of times that have long gone and the kind of chap who could surely only be English, all wrapped up in a tale so bizarre that you wonder why someone didn’t think to turn it into a film years and years ago.

In the event, it’s the perfect vehicle for Jim Broadbent playing precisely the kind of character so reminiscent of so many other roles he’s played. To an extent, it feels a little bit like Jim Broadbent being Jim Broadbent.

Except that here he is Kempton Bunton, the 60-year-old sacked Newcastle taxi-driver who in 1961 stood trial for the theft of Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London.

SEE OUR REVIEW OF DEATH ON THE NILENot long after it was saved for the nation by the British government for the princely sum of £140,000, it goes missing in a theft that the police, to spare their blushes, try to pass off as an international heist, the work of experienced hardened criminals.

The truth is far more remarkable. The next time we see the painting Kempton is trying to hide it in his wardrobe, his plan being to ransom it in the cause he’s so passionate about and for which he has already served time for his non-compliance.

Kempton is a man on a mission, convinced that “TV should be free for the OAP”.

It all comes to trial where the sweetness and kindness of his nature come through in his answers – until the judge reprimands him for trying to turn the whole process into music hall.

His argument is that he didn’t steal it. He simply borrowed it – a case eloquently made by the excellent Matthew Goode as Jeremy Hutchinson, his barrister.

But the real story is actually elsewhere, lost in the chasm between Kempton and his wife Dorothy (excellent again from Helen Mirren), a couple still together but miles apart emotionally following the death of their daughter 13 years before.

Dorothy can’t and won’t speak of it. She can’t even bring herself to visit their daughter’s grave. Kempton, we slowly realise, is completely shaped by their loss. It’s why he campaigns, it’s why he writes plays, it’s why he does everything. A way of filling the void.

It’s touching and very beautifully done, a film which manages genuine poignancy particularly in those moments where Kempton and Dorothy do come close to connecting. There is also something very appealing about Kempton’s sense of honour and his instinct to protect his family (to say more would give away too much). Added to that, of course is the humour in a film which is as quirky as it is warm-hearted, expertly delivered by two masters of the game, Mirren and Broadbent on fine, fine form.