On Hulu, I watched The Christophers, a 2025 dark comedy directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon. It stars Ian McKellen as Julian Sklar, an elderly and eccentric artist living in London in an old house with small floors. In the 1990s, he created two series of paintings he dubbed the "Christophers," but never finished the third series. He is in his eighties and dying, and his opportunistic children, Sallie (Jessica Gunning) and Barnaby (James Corden) want those works completed before he dies, so they hire an art forger, Lori (Michaela Coel) to pose as a potential new assistant to gain access to the unfinished canvas and forge the rest, so that Barnaby and Sallie can sell them for a huge profit after their father dies.
Lori accepts the job, and meets Julian while he is recording Cameos for his fans, and he is cranky and jaded towards her, assuming she's a wannabe artist or a fan, and mentions that he thinks his kids put her up to this to do something with the "Christophers," which she denies. He orders her to shred the "Christophers," but instead she makes copies of the originals and shreds the forgeries. They have a rocky start to their relationship, with Lori having a no b.s. attitude while Julian is rhapsodic about his former glory as an artist, though he knows his quality went down a lot and that his work became rote and lost its vitality.
When Julian learns his predictions about Lori and his children are true, his friendship with Lori grows a lot deeper, as she drops her guard and talks to him about the highs and lows of his artistry, sharing a deep knowledge of his work and career, and he in turn is very astute and is hesitant to destroy his own work because of the past significance of the "Christophers."
I really enjoyed this film a lot. It's a small film that is mainly a two-handed between McKellen and Coel, and they have great chemistry together, with Julian and Lori able to see through one another and draw a deeper connection about their passions and failures as artists, and teaming up against his selfish children. There's a sweet and funny intimacy to the film that I liked, with the messiness of Julian's home, like his art studio, and the joke of him having two doors and two buzzers and shouting "other door!" when Lori buzzes for him. The old staircases leading up to each small floor was a nice touch in making the house feel more lived-in as part of Julian's character and history.
I liked that Lori didn't have guilt over being an art forger, not seeing it as important if people who buy and admire the art don't know the truth, as long as people appreciate the art and makes them happy or brings joy to their life. Michaela Coel was excellent in this film, and I've been a fan of her since Chewing Gum, and am happy to see her thriving more as an actress and show creator.
Ian McKellen is wonderful in this film, and at 87, he is still vibrant and funny and can go on long monologues and sound so natural, and he's very charming and engaging to watch in this role. He can play Julian as cranky without making him a miser or a jerk, and that's a difficult balance to achieve.
I missed this when it was in theaters, so I'm glad I saw this on Hulu, it's a gem to watch.
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