MY SALINGER YEAR
Canada, 2020, 101 minutes, Colour.
Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Seana Kerslake, Jonathan Dubskyy, Colm Feore, Theodore Pelleriin.
Directed by Philippe Falardeau.
Most Americans may know the name, Salinger, the tradition of reading and studying J.G.Salinger’s famous novel Catcher in the Rye (and also Franny and Zoe). In the past he would have had a great following outside the United States but it is many decades since he published his novels and he has lived as something of a recluse. Which means that someone considering watching the film may well be puzzled by what a Salinger Year could possibly mean.
The setting is in fact the mid-90s, New York City. It is based on a book of reminiscences by Joanna Smith Rakoff, her Salinger year.
This is one of those films that may delight quite a wide audience, light in touch, serious implications. But it is also thinkable that audiences may dismiss it as too light, even trite. It is that kind of film for which there are two camps – which was rather evident in responses when it was the opening film for the Berlinale 2020.
Joanna is played by the up-and-coming actress, Margaret Qualley (who appeared in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Seberg, Native Son, Adam, and as Ann Reinking in Fosse/Verdon during 1919). At times, she speaks directly to the audience, a likeable presence.
She applies for a job at an agency, leaving her boyfriend in Berkeley, staying with friends in New York City, encountering a would-be rather socialist writer (Douglas Booth) and they move in together. She is not exactly equipped to do the job at the agency, even typing (the boss having a huge suspicion of computers and their temporary popularity).
Margaret Qualley doesn’t have the opportunity to dominate the film. That is left to Sigourney Weaver as Margaret, the longtime head of the agency with a strong reputation amongst authors, although it is clear that she operates from the head and is not empathetic to authors who operate from the heart. It is an impressive performance by Sigourney Weaver.
And Salinger? It emerges that he is one of the clients of the agency, phoning now and again, responding rather well to Joanna. But one of the main jobs in the office is to send out formula replies to Salinger fans that he does not respond to their letters. In the office, there is a whole lot of shredding going on, a vast amount of letters coming in addressed to the author. Part of Joanna’s Salinger year is her decision to answer some of the letters – half a dozen of the characters visualised, their stories, the motives for writing to Salinger. Joanna goes against policy and sometimes makes big mistakes.
However, this is the year that Salinger has decided to republish a piece from The New Yorker, engaging the agency, with Joanna able to persuade Margaret that she should go to Washington DC to oversee a meeting between Salinger and the intended publisher. Only glimpses of Salinger.
Towards the end of the film there are some emotional challenges, especially for Margaret and the suicide of a genial presence around the office, bi-polar, (Colm Feore). Margaret is touched by Joanna’s concern – and happy if Joanna were to continue working in the agency. But, Joanna has further ambitions, especially writing – including the story that is the basis of this film.
1. The title? The focus? J.D.Salinger and his career, his being a recluse? An event from the 1990s?
2. The story, based on personal experience?
3. New York City, the 1990s, streets and buildings, apartments, shops, the agency, restaurants? A visit to Washington DC, the concert hall, the restaurant? Workplaces? The musical score?
4. Joanna, Margaret Qualley’s presence and performance? Her talking to camera, telling her life story, the explanations? Have of the publisher Salinger, the surprise news, her friend giving her Karl’s letter? Salinger on the phone, calling her Susanna, liking her, talking with her?
5. Coming to New York, her ambitions, staying with friends, the interview for the job, the encounter with Margaret, her being hired?
6. The hopes, to be a writer? Yet her job description? The photos on the wall of the clients? Salinger, Margaret calling him Jerry? A job of writing the letters, so many coming in, the personal testimonies to his writing? His not wanting correspondence? The anonymous letters? The range of writers, their stories, the visuals, the young man and his identifying, the Vietnam veteran, principal, the mother with her daughter…? Joanna’s replies and personalised? Her imagining the characters? The importance of the encounter with the girl who was failing, the letter, good intentions, the girl coming to the office and confronting Joanna?
7. The meeting with Don, his shop, his friends, Joanna moving in with him, his character, writing, love for Joanna, calling her? His writing, listening to Joanna’s letters? The advice? The wedding his friends, not inviting Joanna? Her being hurt? Life in the apartment – no sink, washing up in the bath?
8. Margaret, Sigourney Weaver’s presence, her haughty manner, the interview, 1995 and no computers, her rules and regulations? The treatment of the other members of the staff? The staff, Pam, carrying out orders, Hugh and his being friendly, keeping the accounts, Max? The range of girls, the shredding of the Salinger letters? Expectations of Joanna, her not writing the letters?
9. Margaret, manuscript, heading the agency, her life story, selling articles to magazines, the agency, the discussion with the children’s author and her being hurt? Wanting advice from Joanna?
10. Daniel, kind, present in the office, Joanna passing the restaurant, his beckoning her in? His relationship with his wife? The discussion in the restaurant, Joanna’s opinion of the author, the author present? His suicide, bipolar? His wife? The effect on Margaret?
11. Margaret, reclusive, Joanna arriving, the gifts, the discussions, the embrace?
12. Don, the separation, Joanna telling him that she didn’t think of him while he was at the wedding? Karl, the visit to Washington, the music, continued friendship?
13. The visit to Washington, the publisher, his books and layouts, to boo graphical errors and correcting them, the meeting with Salinger?
14. The imaginative train sequence, the carriage with all the writers sitting in the seats? The dance sequence with Karl, with a variety of characters?
15. Joanna, her deciding to resign, her hopes, the final days in the office? The significance of the year in her life and career?
