The story revolves around Virgil Oldman (Geoffrey Rush), an ageing and renowned, but fastidious, eccentric and highly temperamental managing director of a preeminent auction house.

While giving an engaging performance to the public at auction, Virgil is not at ease with them individually; he refuses to use a cell phone and only removes his gloves to touch artwork as he has OCD.

Virgil is hired by a mysterious young heiress, Claire Ibbetson (Sylvia Hoeks), to auction off a large collection of art and antiques left to her by her parents.

Aware of the slightest detail and nuance when it comes to art, he is totally oblivious every time to a dwarf who is seated at the window, ignoring her not only when she accurately calculates aloud the points the pinball game across the room is racking up, but confounds the cafe's patrons with correct calculations and mathematical formulae in answer to their questions.

Virgil's reputation as an authenticator who is above reproach is belied by an ongoing scam, whereby he presents actual master portraits of women at auction as inauthentic, the work of minor artists or forgers, so that his friend Billy Whistler (Donald Sutherland) can act as his shill, bidding on them at prices far below what they should actually have fetched.

When Virgil is beaten up by a gang after he leaves the villa and is left lying in the street, Claire overcomes her fear of the outside world and comes to his rescue.

When she confesses that she has decided not to sell, rather than being angry at all his effort going to waste, a besotted Virgil happily rips it up, declaring he would do the same if the property belonged to him.

The empty vault contains only the restored automaton, which plays Robert's message saying that there is something authentic concealed in every forgery, which is why he will truly miss Virgil.

Virgil is unable to go to the police as the victim of the elaborate fraud since he acquired the now stolen works by illicit means.

Carrying Billy's portrait of her, he takes a trip to Prague, where rooms opposite the famous medieval tower clock have been configured to his specifications.

As the camera pulls back to reveal a myriad collection of noisily whirring, ticking and moving clockworks that are all in motion.

[1] On the Italian opening weekend, the film grossed $2,496,402 from 373 theaters and debuted at number 2 on the box office chart, behind Us in the U.S..