Behind the shuttered windows of a London townhouse, an aging art legend is about to be conned by his own flesh and blood. Julian Sklar (Ian McKellen) was once a towering figure of the 1960s pop-art scene, but he now lives as an irascible recluse, surrounded by decades of clutter and a legendary, unfinished series of paintings known as The Christophers. With Julian’s health declining, his estranged and financially desperate children, Barnaby (James Corden) and Sallie (Jessica Gunning), panic at the prospect of losing a multi-million-pound inheritance.

Desperate to secure their fortune, the siblings orchestrate a risky scheme: they hire Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), a brilliant but struggling artist with a knack for forgery, to pose as a studio assistant. Her mission is to gain Julian’s trust, locate the incomplete canvases, and finish them in his signature style without him ever noticing. But the plan hits a major snag when Lori begins spending time with the sharp-tongued patriarch. Instead of a simple con, Lori finds herself locked in a fierce, deeply intellectual, and surprisingly tender artistic partnership with Julian.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh from a script by Ed Solomon, The Christophers is a beautifully acted, claustrophobic caper that questions what truly gives art—and life—its value.