Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Dir: Marielle Heller

2018

****

It’s a funny old world when forged letters are now more valuable than originals but you can never put a price on a good story. Can You Ever Forgive Me? Is an adaptation of the confessional memoir written by Lee Israel. Israel, down on her luck in the early 90s following the critical and commercial failure of her biography of Estée Lauder, began forging letters from deceased authors and playwrights when she found there was a market for them. The failure of her Estée Lauder biography left her with financial troubles, writer's block and ignited her decent further into alcoholism. She was forced to sell many of her things to cover expenses, including her prize possession, a personal letter she received from Katharine Hepburn. She sold the letter to a local book dealer and learned that there was a market for such things. While drinking away her sorrows she bumped into an old friend, Jack Hock, a flamboyant drug dealer and her story took off from there. I’m really not much of a Melissa McCarthy fan but I know she can act. I just wish she’d do more of this than the usual duff comedies she gets involved in. Jack Hock is played brilliantly by Richard E. Grant, who by all accounts, is said to have got the character right by the few people who remember him, while also dusting off Withnail for another outing. I know many will suggest that his Hock and his Withnail are different, but director Marielle Heller, or the producers, or both, clearly wanted a bit of Grant’s classic character and had him toasting his double whiskeys with a chin chin, standing in the rain and cleaning a filthy apartment – all classic Withnail memories. No complains here and I’m sure the real Jack Hock would have been thrilled. McCarthy and Grant make a great double act and the film is an easy watch. While conducting research for a potential Fanny Brice biography, Israel discovered two letters written by Brice, one of which she takes and shows to Anna, the book dealer she sold her Katharine Hepburn letter to. Anna gives a low offer due to the letter's bland content, prompting Israel to return home, add a postscript to the second letter, and bring it back to Anna, who takes the letter for $350. Israel then starts forging and selling further letters by deceased celebrities, incorporating intimate details in an attempt to command higher prices. Anna, who is a fan of Israel's writing, tries to initiate a romantic relationship but is rebuffed by an unconfident Israel. When one of Israel's letters raises suspicion for its unguarded discussion of Noël Coward's sexuality – something his fans and experts know would not exist - her buyers start blacklisting her. Now unable to sell the forgeries, she has Jack sell the letters for her. She also begins to steal authentic letters from libraries and archives to sell, replacing them with forged duplicates. While Israel is out of town committing one such theft, her elderly cat dies under Jack's care – or lack of. She ends their friendship but continues their criminal partnership out of necessity. Jack was caught by the FBI while attempting a sale and cooperated with them, resulting in Israel being served with a court summons. She retained a lawyer, who advised her to show contrition by getting a job, doing community service, and joining Alcoholics Anonymous. In court, Israel confesses she enjoyed creating the forged letters and does not regret her actions, but realizes her crimes were not worth it because the forgeries did not show her true self as a writer. She is sentenced to five years' probation and six months' house arrest. Sometime later, Israel reconciles with Jack, who is now dying of AIDS, and asks his permission to write a memoir about their escapades, to which he agrees. While passing a bookstore, she sees a Dorothy Parker letter she forged on sale for $1900. Disgusted, she writes the store owner a sarcastic note in Parker's voice. Upon receiving Israel's note and realizing that the letter in the storefront window is a fake, the owner removes it from the window but changes his mind and decides to keep it on display. While I’m sure many book store still sold her work, knowing full well it was one of hers, the part about asking Jack permission to write the memoir is untrue. The pair never met after the FBI investigation, although Israel said in her memoir that in 1994, a few months before his death from an HIV-related cause , she saw him in the waiting area of a Manhattan medical clinic for poor people. She admitted that she had the urge to trip him after he stood up from his seat, but she restrained herself. He did not see her. In the film he asks that when she writes about him that she doesn’t make him out to be an idiot. It’s sadly not true but he certainly isn’t depicted as an idiot. Artistic licence is a grey area and I’m a firm believer in sticking to the facts – particularly when real people are involved, and especially when they are no longer alive and therefore cannot defend themselves. However, both characters strike me as people who enjoyed a little magic and clearly had a thing for stories and fiction, so I don’t think any harm is done by sprinkling a little bit of sugar on what is still an authentically sad story. Lee forged and sold approximately 400 letters in total and two of them were included in Noël Coward's 2007 biography, although they were removed by the second printing. The New York Times called Lee Israel's book a "sordid and pretty damned fabulous book." And I think the film also reflects that. It certainly looked like the early 90s and each character was researched and performed with respect. That said, the film is all about the lead performances, Julianne Moore was originally set to play Israel, while both Sam Rockwell and Chris O'Dowd were both once attached to play the Jack Hock character – three great actors who I admire – but McCarthy and Grant, two actors who I wouldn’t have thought of personally, absolutely (with)nailed it.