THE DUKE is set in 1961 when Kempton Bunton, a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government agreed to provide television for free to the elderly.
What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge – a startling revelation of how a good man set out to change the world and in so doing saved his son and his marriage.
The Duke
|| Comedy • Drama || 2022 || 96′
Release Date (U.S.A.) ► April 22, 2022 (NY & LA)
Rating ► [ R ] Language and brief sexuality.
Distributor ► Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by
Roger Michell
Cast
Jim Broadbent; Helen Mirren; Matthew Goode; Fionn Whitehead; Anna Maxwell Martin.
Written by
Richard Bean, Clive Coleman.
Cinematography by
Mike Eley
Music by
George Fenton