The Oligarch and the Art Dealer

The true story of one of the world’s richest men and one of the 21st-century art world’s greatest frauds.

Or is it?

Unfolding like a Hollywood thriller, The Oligarch and the Art Dealer unpacks with exquisite precision all the shady details of the Bouvier Affair: a high-profile court case between Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev, the notoriously private owner of the world’s most expensive art collection, and his former trusted art dealer and friend Yves Bouvier, a maestro of freeports – duty-free tax havens-cum-storage lockers for the ultra-wealthy’s Picassos, da Vincis, Klimts and Magrittes. It’s a case that shocked the world, not least because it forced Rybolovlev – a man without a phone number, email address or computer – into the open and shone a spotlight on the clandestine dealings and deliberate secrets of the global elite.

In this engrossing documentary, Andreas Dalsgaard digs into the decade-long battle that began when Rybolovlev accused Bouvier of a billion-dollar scam, blowing up the once-symbiotic relationship that had helped both men to stratospheric financial echelons. Approaching the scandal with an exacting eye, The Oligarch and the Art Dealer allows each man to make his case – Bouvier directly; the elusive Rybolovlev through his lawyers – and the audience to draw their own conclusions. But when the stakes are this high, and the eye-watering sums behind them are even higher, can you trust anyone’s story?

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival