An inheritance problem turns into an art-world scheme in The Christophers, Steven Soderbergh's 2025 comedy-drama about siblings who hire a forger to finish their famous father's unfinished paintings.
What is The Christophers about?
The setup is simple and a little wicked: a once-celebrated artist has left behind a stack of canvases he never got around to finishing, and his children realize those unfinished works could become an inheritance if someone else can plausibly complete them. So they bring in a forger, and the plan that follows mixes family dysfunction with the mechanics of pulling off a convincing fraud in a world that prizes authenticity above almost everything else. The Christophers uses that premise to poke at how art gets valued, who gets to decide what counts as a real work, and what siblings will talk themselves into once money and a dead parent's legacy are on the table. Soderbergh keeps the tone light and quick rather than heavy, letting the comedy come from character friction as much as from the scheme itself. The ensemble is stacked: Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen headline alongside Jessica Gunning, James Corden, Ferdy Roberts, Tilly Botsford, Lucy McCormick, and Le Fil, a cast built to carry overlapping family dynamics without losing the film's comic pace.
About the cast
Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen lead a large ensemble that also includes Jessica Gunning, James Corden, Ferdy Roberts, Tilly Botsford, Lucy McCormick, and Le Fil, giving the film's sprawling family enough distinct voices to make the scheme feel lived-in rather than schematic.
Context & significance
Steven Soderbergh directs a UK-US co-production that fits his long-running interest in cons, schemes, and the mechanics of getting away with something, here applied to the art world rather than a casino or a corporation.
Watching The Christophers on Ktime
The Christophers streams on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, part of a catalog built for Farsi-speaking audiences across the diaspora. The film page is open to read for free, and watching the film itself only requires logging into a free K-Time account.