Few documentaries about the art world capture the essence of great art, how a painting can hold us rapt, challenge our perceptions, or transform our lives. "Stolen" is the rare film that allows us to linger in the still silence of the museum. As viewers, we feel as though we are truly standing in front of "The Music Lesson," observing the intricately crafted world in the frame and contemplating how the work, so many years later, still connects us to its mysterious creator. <br /><br />Of course, that painting, along with 11 other works of art, was stolen out of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. Dreyfus' film investigates this never-solved crime, introducing all manner of quirky and intriguing characters connected to the paintings. Vermeer's work was the crowning point in Gardner's collection, and as we learn more about this fascinating woman, we yearn for its reappearance in the museum. But rather than handing us a linear path back to the recovered art, Dreyfus gives us a profound meditation on the things we value and the losses we inevitably endure.