My Salinger Year (2020)

(On Cable TV, July 2021) While the contemporary filmmaking landscape is flirting with post-literacy (at least at the top of the box-office), we have recently seen a vigorous subgenre of dramas set in the literary world — I’m thinking of (among others) Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Genius, Trumbo, The End of the Tour, Tolkien, Wild Nights with Emily — and that’s only between 2015 and 2020. We can now add My Salinger Year to this boiling pot — an adaptation of a memoir from a young woman who momentarily became an administrative assistant in the agency representing Salinger, and who witnessed first-hand both the impact of the famously reclusive writer, but also the personality of the agency president in dealing with a client like Salinger. My Salinger Year is a modest Canadian production from writer-director Philippe Falardeau, but it clearly follows the precepts of Hollywood screenwriting: it’s about its main character’s voyage of self-discovery and only tangentially about Salinger. The look at the inner working of a creative agency is interesting but clearly subordinated to the requirements of filmed drama. Fortunately, a pair of good performances are at the heart of the film: Margaret Qualley as the young writer looking for a job and the courage to pursue her dreams, and Sigourney Weaver in fine form as the brassy agency owner who ends up teaching her many lessons. Salinger is a shadow here — often a voice, sometimes a silhouette. It’s all a bit mechanical, not really surprising, but still effective. The mid-1990s setting leads to a few cheap technology jokes, but the film itself does have a timeless quality. It makes for entertaining viewing, with additional bonus points if, like me, you’re invested in films about writers. The only problem? My Salinger Year is, like its title, something that passes and fades from memory.