In Tenet, the painting subplot informs viewers about character motivations and underlines the film's central themes about greed, corruption, and legacy. As John David Washington's Protagonist investigates the primary villain, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), he learns that the Russian businessman acquired a forged painting from estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), an art appraiser. Tenet suggests that Kat mistakenly authenticated the artwork, presumably by Francisco Goya, but the subtext implies that she orchestrated the scheme as an act of self-serving revenge.
Tenet seemingly resolves the painting conflict within the first hour. Kat reveals the painting's location to the Protagonist, who then fails to acquire the artwork during a mission in Oslo, Norway. Later, in Italy, Kat discovers that Sator still possesses the Goya painting, a moment that subtly functions as the film's true inciting incident. The Protagonist plots to double-cross the Russian baddie while Debicki's character seeks payback for all the emotional and physical abuse she endures.
On one level, the painting storyline informs audiences about Kat's worldview in Tenet. As an art appraiser, she determines the value of physical objects but struggles with the actual worth of her marriage. Based on character dialogue, she presumably formed a close relationship with a forger named Arepo, who, in theory, created a replica Goya that would appeal to Sator. Kat understands that her husband values artwork more than their relationship, and so she devises a plan that's symbolic of their relationship–it's a fake. In Tenet, filmmaker Christopher Nolan cleverly utilizes the "pride comes before the fall" concept for Kat and then inverses that idea for the rest of the film by applying it to Sator. By the climax, Branagh's villainous Sator realizes that he's been tricked and gets eliminated by a time-traveling version of the woman he objectified and tried to kill.
As for the bigger picture, Tenet's painting subplot thematically links to Sator's motivations. When he literally delivers the forgery to Kat on a plate, he gloats by stating: "Were you worried it had been destroyed? Rest assured, instinct told me to remove it from the vault. I've always had instincts about the future. That's how I built this life you longer value." Of course, Tenet's ending reveals that Sator's grand plan involves destroying the Earth and its history so that a future generation can begin anew, the result of humanity not taking climate change seriously and creating an inhabitable world for their descendants. The irony, from Kat's perspective, is that Sator doesn't actually value anything. He's an opportunist and views himself as a martyr, when in fact, he's targeted by scientists of the future and blatantly manipulated because of his circumstances.
Tenet complicates Kat's arc by highlighting her reckless behavior throughout the film. Still, the audience can empathize with Kat because her actions stem from physical and emotional abuse. Without Kat's redemption story, Tenet would fundamentally be a movie about the Protagonist and Robert Pattinson's Neil traveling through time to defeat Sator. Of course, that particular storyline is entertaining on its own, but the painting subplot allows for several layers of depth, especially when considering that Neil is actually Sator and Kat's son; a fact that the Protagonist hasn't fully grasped during the climactic world-saving mission that gives Tenet its title.
https://ift.tt/2RRE7Ij
June 14, 2021 at 12:10AM
