Even the great Helen Mirren can do only so much to elevate this relentlessly mediocre, fact-inspired drama. She plays Maria Altmann, an octogenarian refugee living in California who successfully battles the Austrian government to recover Gustav Klimt’s famous portrait of her aunt (Antje Traue), which was stolen from her family by the Nazis.

Under Harvey Weinstein’s sponsorship, this remarkable story has become a paint-by-numbers variation on the producer’s far better “Philomena.” Here, Mirren’s feisty Altmann recruits the son of a family friend who’s a corporate lawyer — and grandson of noted composer Arnold Schoenberg — to help in her quest.

Played by a severely miscast Ryan Reynolds, he’s at first a reluctant partner with a pregnant wife (Katie Holmes). But he becomes obsessed with obtaining justice for Altmann after an Austrian journalist (an under-used Daniel Brühl) helps uncover documents hidden by government officials.

“Woman in Gold” is directed without inspiration by TV veteran Simon Curtis (“My Week With Marilyn”). Working from a heavy-handed script, he deploys an impressive ensemble (Charles Dance, Elizabeth McGovern, Jonathan Pryce, Henry Goodman, Frances Fisher, Max Irons), all confined to one-note roles that flash back and forth between prewar Vienna and 1990s courtrooms.