The Christophers is a new film starring Ian McKellen as Julian Sklar, a once-celebrated 1970s painter who has become a social pariah and reality TV villain. The plot follows a 'reverse art heist' where Sklar’s estranged children hire a restorer and former forger, played by Michaela Coel, to secretly finish a series of nine incomplete portraits of his former lover. The goal is to inflate the works' market value so they can be 'discovered' as masterpieces upon the aging artist's death.
Beyond its heist-like premise, the film serves as a sharp commentary on the financialization of the art market and the tension between artistic merit and commercial branding. By focusing on the psychological relationship between the artist and his assistant, the narrative explores how the value of art is often dictated by subjective legacy and market manipulation rather than the intrinsic meaning of the work itself.