Lee Israel was a real person. She was a freelance writer who landed an interview with Katherine Hepburn in 1967 and spun from that into a career as a biographer. Sic transit gloria, though. Her books stopped selling, and in 1992 she embarked on another career as a forger of literary letters. Whether bold enough or desperate enough, she also stole letters from archives, hoping to substitute her own copies while selling the originals. A cunning and original plan, but not one she could carry off very long, as she was arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen property in 1993.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a film based on Israel's autobiography. It's a kind of caper movie, where the tools of the heist are typewriters and Israel's oven, which she uses to artificially age her forged documents. A caper with no physical violence and very little action. Really, though, it's a depiction of loneliness, desperation, self-destructiveness. As portrayed by Melissa McCarthy, Israel is a solitary alcoholic with a secondary addiction of burning bridges. Her forgery scheme is a necessary confidence booster as well as a moneymaker, but she can't completely suppress the suspicion she might be doing something wrong.
It's far from unrelieved misery, though. McCarthy is best known for comedy, and she's frequently funny here. So is Richard E. Grant as her petty criminal best friend, although his story turns tragic as well. Also among the movie's pleasures are a jazz-inflected score and a lived-in New York atmosphere, pre-gentrification.
If you're a cat lover, prepare for some sadness, though.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a film based on Israel's autobiography. It's a kind of caper movie, where the tools of the heist are typewriters and Israel's oven, which she uses to artificially age her forged documents. A caper with no physical violence and very little action. Really, though, it's a depiction of loneliness, desperation, self-destructiveness. As portrayed by Melissa McCarthy, Israel is a solitary alcoholic with a secondary addiction of burning bridges. Her forgery scheme is a necessary confidence booster as well as a moneymaker, but she can't completely suppress the suspicion she might be doing something wrong.
It's far from unrelieved misery, though. McCarthy is best known for comedy, and she's frequently funny here. So is Richard E. Grant as her petty criminal best friend, although his story turns tragic as well. Also among the movie's pleasures are a jazz-inflected score and a lived-in New York atmosphere, pre-gentrification.
If you're a cat lover, prepare for some sadness, though.
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading your review and while I hadn't heard of Lee Israel until now it's nice to know someone has made a movie about what appears to have been a pretty remarkable writer. That she found a unique way of earning her living after the biography business no longer paid must have been kind of thrilling as well as creatively satisfying.
When I watched the trailer the part that caught me was when the bookseller told her they were already featuring her last book and she turned to see it was on the super-discount table.
Some years ago I was in the Portland Borders store and witnessed a moderately well-known science fiction writer (can't recall his name right now) sitting on the floor in front of a shelf pulling out copies of his books and signing them. I felt quite sorry that someone who had enjoyed success was reduced to autographing random books. It's not an easy life for most authors although a few do very well indeed. The weird thing is it's likely Lee Israel's forgeries are worth money themselves by now.
Ah yes, NYC before gentrification seems like eons ago. I'm reminded of Yogi Berra saying a place is so popular nobody goes there anymore.
Well thank you. I'd have to imagine there were mixed emotions involved. Yes, there was definitely some creativity going on in forging these letters, and she was making money, and it could have all been a very big thrill. Still, she was doing this because she couldn't make a living as a writer anymore, which had to sting.
Yeah, that's a funny scene. She takes revenge on that bookstore worker later on in a way that could be seen as petty, but you have a hard time blaming her. I'm pretty sure it's a pure embellishment anyway.
Book-signing tours have to be pretty weird for an author. A band or musician might play to indifferent audiences, but they're playing, so they have a chance to win people over. An author has to trade on standing affection, as no one can read their whole book in the time they're there (possible exception for picture books.) If that affection isn't there, it gets pretty awkward.
Berra was in the ballpark, ha ha. Everybody goes there, but almost no one can stay. Amazon says they'll hire a lot of people once they open their secondary headquarters, but the idea of these people actually being able to afford to live in Brooklyn seems like a joke.
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