Can You Ever Forgive Me?

A.O. Scott begins his NY Times review of the new film “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” by saying “Lee Israel may be the single most interesting movie character you will encounter this year." I certainly have not seen as many films as Mr. Scott has but I strongly suspect he has this one right.

Melissa McCarthy, whose most recent memorable gig was her hilarious, if almost painful, portrayal of former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on a number of episodes of Saturday Night Live in early 2017, takes on a very different role based on the memoir of Lee Israel, an American author who became best known for the literary forgery she conducted over a number of years in the 1990's. I probably should remember this incident but have to admit I do not, which made the story all that much more interesting.

Ms. Israel’s activity began almost innocently enough as a way for a struggling writer to earn a living. While her early work had achieved some notoriety, she was increasingly unable to interest publishers in her projects and had descended into alcoholism and poverty in an old, drug-infested apartment for which she was unable to even pay the rent. While researching a biography she was writing on the late vaudevillian Fannie Brice, she stumbled on a note Ms. Brice had written. When she discovered that collectors might be interested in such memorabilia, and in particular that they would pay more for personal tidbits, she began creating her own versions of letters from various well-known writers like Noël Coward, Lilliam Hellman, and Dorothy Parker. This activity apparently went on for a number of years before her fraud was discovered.

Her guilty verdict only resulted in probation (as well as a promise to stop drinking, which she apparently did not keep). This seemed a bit surprising to me at first, but thinking about it more, it is really hard to believe that all those agents who were paying for her forgeries and then selling them to collectors at vastly higher prices certainly contributed to her criminal activity, and this may be why the judge did not see fit to punish her more harshly. Ms. Israel died in late 2014.

The movie is worth seeing for Melissa McCarthy’s performance alone. Hopefully more good parts will come her way.

Love,

Rebecca