Director: Pascal Bonitzer
A gallery specialist's quiet routine cracks open the moment a forgotten wartime provenance letter lands on his desk in Pascal Bonitzer's brisk French comedy-drama Auction.
What is Auction about?
André Masson has spent his career authenticating other people's treasures, so when a tip suggests a long-lost Egon Schiele canvas has resurfaced in Mulhouse, he cannot resist chasing it down. The painting vanished from view in 1939, and tracing where it has been since means untangling old family claims, dealer rivalries, and a paper trail nobody wants examined too closely. Masson's professional standing is tied to getting the attribution right, and the closer he gets to confirming the work, the more the people around him — colleagues, heirs, and a former partner reentering his life — start pulling in different directions. Bonitzer, working from a script he co-wrote, treats the high-stakes art world with a light comic touch rather than thriller tension, finding humor in vanity, ambition, and the absurd theater of a big auction house under pressure. The ensemble around Alex Lutz keeps the pace brisk, and the film's real question isn't whether the painting is genuine, but what its rediscovery is worth to everyone circling it.
Cast & crew
Alex Lutz anchors the film as André Masson, playing the specialist's mounting unease with restraint rather than melodrama. Léa Drucker and Nora Hamzawi round out a sharp supporting cast, while Louise Chevillotte, Arcadi Radeff, Laurence Côte, Olivier Rabourdin, and Alain Chamfort fill out the gallery and auction-house world Masson navigates.
Context & significance
Auction arrived in 2024 as a French production directed by Pascal Bonitzer, blending drama with comedic timing rather than playing the art-world intrigue straight. It sits comfortably alongside other recent French ensemble comedies that use a single object — here, a disputed painting — to expose the vanities of a closed professional world. At 91 minutes, the film moves briskly, favoring character friction over courtroom-style suspense about the artwork's authenticity.
Where & how to watch
Auction is available to watch on K-Time with a free account login, and both a Persian dub and Persian subtitles are included, so viewers can choose whichever suits their evening. The K-Time interface itself is built around a Farsi-first experience for the diaspora, and this page — the synopsis, cast details, and background above — stays readable without signing in at all.