TELLURIDE – We’re not going to ignore the fact that you’ll likely wince if we refer to Marielle Heller’s sophomore effort,”Can You Ever Forgive Me?” as “a little gem of a movie.” While that looks great as a pull quote on a movie ad (perish the thought) in this case it honestly may be more apropos than you might think. And considering Heller’s talents that not out of bounds.
READ MORE: 9 Must-See Premieres At The 2018 Telluride Film Festival
Set in 1991, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is based on Lee Israel’s memoir of the same title and begins with the New York-based writer (Melissa McCarthy) struggling to make ends meet. Despite the fact she’s had one of her biographies on the New York Times Best-Seller list her agent Marjorie (Jane Curtin, more please) can’t find a publisher for her latest passion project, a look at the life of vaudeville comedienne Fanny Brice. And, in one of the films funnier scenes, Marjorie, who has lost patience with her client, rips Lee for her notable shortcomings.
READ MORE: 55 Must-See Films: The 2018 Fall Movie Preview
No, “Can You Forgive Me?” does not gloss over Lee’s drinking problem, her lack of basic social etiquette, her disregard for her appearance or her inability to turn her name into a brand (not unheard of for biographers in the 20th Century). Lee’s problems are her mostly of her own making even if she can’t admit it. Her immediate concerns are paying her rent and scrounging enough cash to get her cat Jersey treated by the vet. She’s close to a breaking point and finds herself selling a personal note sent to her by Katherine Hepburn to make ends meet.
Lee spends most of her days drinking her troubles away at Julius, a legendary gay bar in the East Village (it’s still open today). That’s where she runs across Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant, fantastic), a sly, flamboyant charmer who met Lee years ago after he notoriously ruined a stuffy literary party by peeing in a closet by accident. They soon become buddies, giving each other someone to lean on as they drink their troubles away.
During a research session at the New York Library, she runs across a personal letter left between the pages of a book from none other than Brice herself. Realizing it might be worth something, she takes it to a bookshop where Anna (Dolly Wells, perfect) informs her she can buy it for $75. But she also casually remarks to Lee that it’s too bad it wasn’t more colorful, or it would be even more valuable. That sparks what turns out to be a bad idea in Lee’s head, and she’s soon using her talents to forge personal letters from notable figures such as Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker, among others.
When one of Lee’s forgeries of a Coward letter is questioned, she learns the FBI is investigating. Still desperate for the money, she recruits Jack to start selling the letters she writes, but her charade can’t go on for much longer.
Even without knowing Lee’s backstory, you can see where the film is going. That’s OK though because Heller and screenwriters Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty are composing a portrait of a woman who has fought her way through a male-dominated literary world that she can barely recognize the people who want to love her standing in her path (notably, Anna). At one point, Lee convinces the one notable romance of her life, Elaine (Anna Deavere Smith), to meet up after years of separation. Lee feels that Elaine knows her more than an anyone else and is shocked when Elaine flatly rejects her assumption. And when Elaine laughs after Lee insists they had moments of happiness it’s as though our heroine is finally seeing how others view her for the first time.
McCarthy has rarely shown off her dramatic talents before, but it goes without saying she’s quite good here. Israel, as noted by her own writing, had a caustic wit that works with McCarthy’s comedic talents. She also brings a depth of emotion to Israel that comes to a head in a wonderfully composed scene with Grant at the end of the film. And that brings us to Heller.
It will be easy for some to dismiss Heller’s work here. It’s not as showy or visually inventive as her debut picture, “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” but there is a comforting subtly here to the world she composes around Lee. “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” feels real and lived in. The filmmaker ensures the drama never feels studio slick and never glosses over Lee’s faults (or, more importantly, crimes). She’s made a little gem of a movie. And there’s really no other way to describe it. [B+]
Check out all our coverage from the 2018 Telluride Film Festival here.