BEST SELLERS

UK/Canada, 2021, 102 minutes, Colour.

Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Speedman, Ellen Wong, Cary Elwes, Luc Morissette, Veronica Ferres.

Directed by Lina Roessler.

Best Sellers tend to be big, popular, often obvious, but delighting in twists. This is not that kind of film!

Rather, this is a story about publishing, publishers’ desires (as Well Is being driven) to find the next bestseller, to get the author under contract, to promote the book. And, the screenplay is fairly serious about it – except that it also takes a critical look, a satirical look, entails.

But the best thing to say, of course, is that this is a Michael Caine film. And, there he is, 55 years after Zulu still getting top billing. And, at time of filming in 2019, he was 86. And there he is, the familiar face if older, the familiar voice, just the same. And a cheeky attitude towards life.

We see him at the opening thumping his typewriter, finally writing The End to a manuscript. He is Harris Shaw, famous, but his only novel having been published 40 years earlier. He is old, cantankerous, dependent on the bottle.

We are then introduced to Lucy (a complex performance by Aubrey Plaza), a publisher who has inherited her respected father’s company, working with her assistant, Rachel (Evelyn Wong). Crisis. Their latest bestseller has lost the status of best, removed from store windows, being pulped! What is Lucy to do.

The answer, of course, is Harris Shaw. But, an encounter with him at home which, to say the least, is unpropitious! Lucy is poised in the very moment of signing away her company when Harris arrives.

We are witness to all the complications of contracts, authors’ demands, publishers’ desperations, questions of editing, Harris reluctant to do the promotion tours but consenting. But, with intention of sabotage. His main weapon, rather British, is a nine letter word which is repeated, repeated, repeated, taken up as a chant, taken up as a mantra by those who attend the launches, “Bullshite”. What follows is something of a catalogue of disasters that can erupt during a promotion tour when the author is unwilling, who has some contempt for his audiences let alone the publishers.

You know that something good is going to happen – or at least we hope so. And Lucy does get a brainwave, a tip for publishers in a social media age, having a range of ordinary people filmed for Youtube clips reading sections of the book. Some effective promotion. But, we are reminded that fewer people read books these days and that audiences go for trends rather than quality.

As always, some unwelcome truths are revealed, a quiet peace is possible. Lucy has to take stock of her life and her future. For Harris, of course, there is very little time and future.

But, there is a nice twist ending that we could not have anticipated, meaning that we finish the film and the final credits smiling.

1. The title, book publishing, niche publishing, publishing difficulties? Bestsellers, quality, marketing, sales? An ironic perspective on publishing and promotion?
2. Canadian/New York settings, vistas of the city, streets, publishing houses, offices? The contrast with the home in the country, the countryside, winter? The home for the elderly? The musical score?
3. Audiences wanting to see Michael Caine in his later 80s? His long screen presence, characteristics, look, voice, accent? Playing at cantankerous old men? His skills and communication?
4. Harris Shaw, seeing him at the typewriter, phone calls and swearing, typing, The End? Elderly, at home, alone, memories of his wife, love for his cat? The one book published 40 years earlier, his reputation? Nothing since?
5. Lucy, publishing, Rachel as her assistant, the pressure to sell the business, inheriting it from her father, his portrait in the boardroom? Jack, wanting to buy, visits, pressure for sales?
6. Lucy and Rachel, dilemmas, finding their latest publication withdrawn, bad reviews…? Going through the back list? Discovering Harris Shaw? Lucy and her memories of a father working with him? Phone calls, the visit to the house, his being cantankerous, the rifle, refusing consideration, ousting them?
7. His change of heart, arriving with the manuscript, not burning it, Lucy and the details of his contract, concerning editing, the publicity tour, the confrontation, his decision?
8. The satiric presentation of his tour, drinking, not getting up before midday, dishevelled, meeting people, despising them, the repetition of “Bullshite”, it becoming a mantra? The T-shirts? The young people, chanting, egging him on, but not buying the books? Lucy and the exasperation of the trip, Harris and his behaviour, discussions, hostility? His walking out sessions, insulting people? The prospect of the television show, Lucy rehearsing with him, his monosyllabic answers?
9. Rachel, advice for Lucy, minding Harris’s cat?
10. The initial launch, Harris’s bad behaviour, on the balcony, watching people, calling out to them, the reviewer from the Times and his insulting him, arrested, the police photo? Notoriety?
11. Lucy, the experience of the promotion, Jack and the sexual advances? Exasperated, the device of having different people read texts, social media, popularity, sales, selling out at a meeting, autographs?
12. Lucy and Harris getting to know each other better, his gradually revealing aspects of his life, especially his wife? Lucy and her emendations, his reading them?
13. The visit to the home for the elderly, the discovery that her father was alive, dementia? The impact on Harris? His writing on the wall? The revelation of the truth, Harris and his wife doing all the editing, Lucy’s father taking the credit?
14. Harris going to the bookshop, setting the books alight, hospital, the diagnosis for his future?
15. Lucy and her visit, the talk, scattering his wife’s ashes in the grounds? The creditors, wanting money for the house? His death, Lucy scattering his ashes?
16. Lucy and the decision to sell, Jack pleased, the rifle, ousting him? Taking down her father’s portrait? The investment in Harris’s house, going to the house, the note in the typewriter, the attic, and discovering the manuscripts from over 40 years since his wife’s death, not edited? His bequest? Her future?