你能原谅我吗？

一个51岁的老女人，一只活了12年的猫，本来可以相依相伴，共度晚景。奈何老女人李酗酒成瘾，脾气火暴，出言不逊，导致失业；她本是个传记作家，也曾写出过一本畅销书，奈何目前已没有作品也失去市场。欠了三个月的房租要交，宠物医院还有82美元的债务要还，亲如家人的猫咪又生病需治——困境重重，怎么办？

从迫不得已卖出自己珍藏多年的名人书信，到机缘巧合在图书馆偷到一封名人信件，再到利用自己的文学天赋伪造各位名人的手迹，最后到铤而走险处心积虑窃取书信真迹，李在犯罪的道路上越走越远，不但治好了猫的病，交齐了房租，改善了自己的生活，甚至能帮助一个比她更穷困潦倒的老同性恋杰克——讲到这儿，是的，你发现甚至对这个犯罪者无法憎恶，只是同情。

读书多年，写作多年，李不能凭自己的名字让自己过上衣食无忧的日子，却依靠伪造名人书信赚取一笔又一笔丰厚的酬劳。这是讽刺，也是悲哀。

A pet project for Nicole Holofcener for years (who was set to direct it with Julianne Moore and Chris O’Dowd heading the cast), the final fruition of a biopic about New York biographer-turned-literature-forger Lee Israel (1939-2014) shifts its director chair to her fellow female director Marielle Heller, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? becomes the follow-up of her Sundance darling debut feature THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL (2015), with Holofcener and Jeff Whitty taking the writing credits, Melissa McCarthy starring as Israel and Richard E. Grant as her partner-in-crime Jack Hock (all received their Oscar nominations except Heller).

Scarcely there is anything exciting in Israel’s criminal peccadillo (apart from a tense letter-purloining episode inside the library of Yale University), who forges letters written by deceased celebrities (from Fanny Brice, Noël Coward to Dolly Parker, and the key is to fake their signatures, that’s when an Xerox machine comes quite handy if you have a pair of deft, steady hands), often inputting her own wits into the contents to raise the appeal, then sells them to antique bookshop owners to earn fast cash, yet, it is a fiendishly ingenious idea, because as long as these memorabilia can attract potential collectors, most of these buyers don’t give a toss about its authenticity, but there is also a catch, sometimes, it is difficult to fool a connoisseur who pays handsomely for their collection, also, you cannot sell too many items without rousing suspicion (that “avuncular” slip-up is really embarrassing).

From the start, in the early 1990s, 51-year-old Lee is dead strapped, fired from her wage labor, once a New York best seller, her upcoming biography about Fanny Brice cannot secure an advance, living alone in her cluttered apartment with a long-in-the-tooth cat, her misery should arouse sympathy but any commiseration dissipates vanishingly whenever she talks. A curmudgeon who unabashedly professes that she likes cats far more than her own kind (and later duly proves that with her action), and apparently has no family or friends, Lee belongs to that rarified group of movie protagonists who is not equipped with any modicum of charisma, but that doesn’t make her less human, conversely, among others, McCarthy’s vastly lived-in performance makes every aspect of her humanity coruscate and bubbling with intensity and veracity, we might not want to meet a character like her, but nonetheless, she is there, indomitably represents the unglamorous, unsympathetic side of ordinary beings which narrative cinema often intends to overlook.

The friendship between Lee and Jack, gels naturally from their common propensity of libations. But sex is definitely off the table because of their similar queer orientations, Jack, a small-time drug dealer who seems to sleep rough without a permanent residence, much balances off Lee’s cynical nature with his unapologetic flamboyance, and Grant has a whale of a time in inhabiting his idiotic, happy-go-lucky persona to the hilt, even in the final reveal of his impending fate, Jack is Jack, nothing sentimental or phony is doctored into their tenuous, but unalloyed bond chiefly borne out of a mutual necessity, once that phrase passes, Holofcener and Whitty script makes sure nothing wishy-washy remains.

Many a supporting female performance scintillates with their own strength, Dolly Wells as Anna, one of the bookshop owners, is extremely eloquent in conveying the trickiest part to elicit a tangible romantic feeling towards a dumpy Lee because she peers through her prickly carapace and intuits something tender underneath, but their romance is better not ignited (which Lee snuffs it roundly), as not everyone in real life is prone to act against one’s best judgement. Jane Curtin simply kills it as Lee’s pragmatic agent Marjorie, who does not mince words to pinpoint Lee’s problems with sharp asperity, and Anna Deavere Smith, appears only in one scene as Lee’s ex-lover Elaine, totally shatters our expectation of a comforting figure when Lee seeks out her help, instead, she rams home her mixed feeling of bitterness, weariness and insouciance that persuasively speaks volumes of why their relationship has fallen through.

Carving out an engrossing narrative and teasing out compelling performances out of an assortment of un-cinematic elements, Heller’s CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? not just ushers in a new era of female filmmakers strenuously and felicitously tackling thorny issues like their male counterparts, but also brings a new form of character study to the mainstream audience, if we don’t want other people’s sympathy in real life, likewise, cinema needn’t desperately bank on compassion-inducing characters to make for a rewarding viewing experience, as this film beautifully attests, for what it is worth, humanity is a many-faceted creature.

referential entries: Björn Runge’s THE WIFE (2017, 7.0); Hirokazu Koreeda’s SHOPLIFTERS (2018, 8.4/10).

生活在豆瓣里的文艺青年，看本片应该很有感触吧。简直是寓言一般。

Lee自己是蕾丝，养猫，讨厌小孩，有个Gay的损友，曾经的知名女作家。Lee 对前女友的爱很深，珍惜着前女友送的猫，经常去之前约会的地方，Lee也同样很自我，始终保持着疏离感，无法与被别人建立信任。前女友说，你过得太混乱。Lee 否认，然后又不得不被前女友说服。 那段对话真的是似曾相识。

Lee是有原则的，她看不起哪些吹牛的假装专业的畅销书作家，不愿意屈就，也不愿意配合宣传。Lee还是很真诚的，在面对法官时，并不后悔之前的经历，因为那是有生以来最有成就感最美好的一段时光了。看片子的时候我就在想，如果Lee Israel 如果生活在当下，可能早就成了知名文学八卦博主，10万+随便写写，在网上上着写作课，录着知识付费的博客节目，没准还能上电视做节目。

文艺青年们还是多有些经历，书写自己的真实情感才行。写作为生的人多些经历没什么坏处，还是得多与社会接触，各色人物都打打交道，躲在背后写非典型名人传记，放在哪个时代都很难有出头之日。总是穿着别人的鞋子里，怎么能走出自己的路呢。Lee 虽然是触犯了法律，可是写作这项技能却并没有离开她，日后恢复了，有了生活了，又能在书写中找到成就感与存在感了。编撰的酗酒与作家的主题，其实也可以写起来的。

这种文化人的电影，细节做得到位，那一间间的独立书店实在吸引人，Lee的小公寓收拾干净也挺有风味的，电影里的原声很好听，很适合在家看书或者逛街的时候听。

文化圈其实也很讽刺，哪些收藏名人书信的到底是冲着啥。最后那个稀有书店的老板，明知那封信是伪造的，还是放回了橱窗，因为那段文字够美，为阅读者提供了充分的想象空间。

突然就联想到前几日看到的一段引子雷军的话，是啊错过的成本非常高，不如有机会就试一试吧。

偶然在电脑上看的电影，原本看名字以为是爱情片，夕阳无限好那种，看到一半胸闷的我抽了一根很久都没碰过的烟。

同样是伪造，为什么猫鼠游戏就没那种感觉呢？

看完闷着回味了三个小时，想不明白心情低落的原因，突然看到了CELIN 2021的大秀我突然想明白了一些事。

千禧时代的我还正青春活力呢，可是每天关注着豆瓣离婚帖子，避孕帖子，养老帖子，买房帖子，看着30岁女人分享自己的年龄焦虑，研究着产后恢复的瑜伽到底是怎样练习，爱好如同大爷一样养花看书听歌晒太阳。

不爱出门，不善于交际，拒绝交际。

我生怕会像女主一样被时代的洪流所抛弃。

即使现在我也感觉有点脱离尘世：从不看微博，不玩小红书，不化妆，不看抖音。关注的话题都是比我还要大个几十岁的人才会讨论的事情，政治热点啊，资本运作啊……我好像精神世界已经很老了。

CELIN的设计师Hedi在上世纪风风火火的引领了潮流，如今却要追随潮流。虽然我不知道他风格改变的真正原因，我也不好去揣测，但是这种焦虑情绪从电影刚开始就渗透到我的骨头里。

就更别提我看的书和电影都那么的老派……唉。我真的是把老骨头，而且我厌烦社交的性格已经让我离世界越来越远了。

这电影看起来只是讲了个故事，可是这故事也太心酸了。

曾经大连最风光的琳琳舞厅，当时听着最潮的歌曲的大爷们可能谁都没想到它在几十年后会被电子舞曲和民谣吧取代，如今的蹦迪酒吧KTV可能在十几年后就灰飞烟灭了，可能只有大澡堂洗才是一直活下来的经典。

最近疫情之下书店危机爆发，唱片店早已经濒危和古董古着混搭，我追随的潮流原来已经是过时的节奏，又没有资本坚持自己的爱好，也没资格不去社交就能活着。

那除了荒唐的伪造八卦文书，她还有什么活路。我还有什么活路。

真希望千禧时代能够一直坚持着，年轻着，活跃着。不要被柴米油盐所束缚。让我老的慢一点。

电影的奇妙之处是端坐屋中，却能尝遍天下酸甜苦辣的人生。不看这一本《你能原谅我吗》，我压根无从知晓一个纽约的过气作家会如何穷困潦倒。

电影不是很好看，但触动神经。开篇Norah Joans的爵士歌曲和身材笨拙年已51岁的失意作家形成反讽对比，同样是讲书店、书信，可不是那本经典的《查令十字街84号》的优美克制；同样是生活拮据窘迫，也无法够上沈三白芸娘的贫士风雅，这就是一个孤独得只剩下一只猫的爱的女人挣扎于世的故事。触动我的是两位演员的表演，不露痕迹，真实残酷，才华横溢，同时获得奥斯卡最佳女主角和最佳男配角的提名。

女主不可爱，但让人同情，再卑微的灵魂也要有自己的一憩之地，更何况是受过教育曾经畅销的作家。安慰来自江郎才尽后意外发现的造假书信技能又带回了久违的成就感，安慰也来自同是天涯沦落人两只酒杯碰撞的温暖和笑声，终究还是被命运欺负和碾压，自己的选择怪不了任何人，也由此写下了这段自传，成全了这本电影。

真人真事，无奇不有，此刻在世界上无数个城市黄昏时匆匆走过的人群里，不知道有多少我们不了解的人生，大家各自珍重。

对不起，《你能原谅我吗？》 Can You Ever Forgive Me?

改编于李·伊斯雷尔Lee Israel的同名自传小说。

在美国真要当个作家不是件容易事。李（梅丽莎·麦卡西 Melissa McCarthy饰）就是这样一个专写文人传记的作家。尽管她的著作甚至在“纽约时报”畅销书列上过榜。可现在她已经过气了，也没有了工作，不单一无所有，还欠几个月的房租，自己宝贝的猫病都没钱治，日子一天比一天难过。

她往往醉醺醺的，再加上个烂脾气到处得罪人，把自己的生路都断了，因此51岁的她只能做得就是不时要耍点无赖，或者乘机小偷小摸。总的来说，日子过得结结巴巴或者更糟。最后她不得不把自己珍藏的赫本的亲笔信卖掉了。又过了两天，她在图书馆的书里看到夹着一封作家范妮·布莱斯的信。她把信又卖了个好价钱。当然这不是个长远过日子的办法。就这样，她开始了山寨名人信件的绝招。然后再出售给一个个旧书店。虽然没有致富，但也做到了衣食无忧。

在酒吧里，她还结识了个流浪汉杰克（理查德·E·格兰特 Richard E. Grant饰）。也是个不靠谱的家伙，不单酗酒，还吸毒，有时候还做点贩毒的生意。两个人臭味相投，因此谈的都挺投机的，成了好朋友。当李发现了自己不单被警察钉上了，而且上了书店老板的黑名单后，她安排了杰克去推销这些假信。

当然最后他们两人都被抓起来了。为了轻判她接受认罪。判决是监外执行五年。

她把这段经历写成了这本书。她于2014年74岁去世。

李·伊斯雷本人

虽然有“窃书不能算偷”的说法，但李还是被抓了。不过总的说起来，她还是个雅贼。为了山寨这些信件，她还买了好几个旧打字机，模仿作家的签字，再凭自己对作家的知识而对信件添油加醋。判刑后，她还看到自己的假信在市面高价出售。所以她对自己一手还很骄傲。在法庭认罪时，她觉得这是她一生最得意的一段时间。

从李的经历来看，在美国当作家不容易。美国没有什么作家协会。一旦卖不出作品就要饿肚子。所以她有段时间靠救济过日子，当然这也不能作为她犯罪的理由。

由此可以得知，作假真是件技术活。连续剧《古董局中局》，就知道中国也有假古董。作者马伯庸的微博里提到以前上海藏书家潘明训先生收藏的《黄氏补千家集注杜工部诗》结尾处制版人的名字和制版日期被人删去了，这样一册元版古籍就提升到了宋版。造假这码事，古今中外雷同。

可以想象到当她刚从大学毕业出来后，意气风发，为作家名人写传记，而且上了“纽约时报”的畅销书榜。只因为一本失败的书而每况愈下，最后穷困潦倒。一步错，就走向了深渊。

李·伊斯雷尔令我想起另一部电影，《派克夫人的情人》“Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)”，朵诺西·派克也是纽约的犹太女作家，不过她一生要开心多了，她不是同性恋。结婚后仍然有无数朋友，她在自己文艺圈子几乎天天聚会谈笑风生，接着在好莱坞写剧本而大展身手。但最后回到纽约时，老友和丈夫都已离去，没有子女，没有广场舞，就剩下她孤身一人，醉醺醺的在街上晃来晃去，同样的令人感叹到她的寂寞。作为一个知名作家，这部电影也几次提到她。

本片得奥斯卡剧本改编奖提名。

导演玛丽埃尔·海勒 Marielle Heller曾经导过《少女日记》“ The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)”（见我的博文“《少女日记》不是《少女之心》”）

梅丽莎·麦卡西以本片和《伴娘》“ Bridesmaids (2011)”得奥斯卡提名，以本片和《女间谍》“Spy (2015)”得金球奖提名（见我的博文“《女间谍》”）。

英国演员理查德·E·格兰特以本片得奥斯卡和金球奖提名。

李是个郁郁不得志的作家，50多岁，独居，不善社交，只有一只猫相依为伴，没钱没地位，因为特立独行、出言不逊被出版社炒了鱿鱼。因为收入微薄，房租一拖再拖，从李的家就能看出些她的心境，先不说她为何这么多年还独居一人，但是满屋的杂物和苍蝇也能看出她的孤独，和对生活颓废的态度。无奈之下只好卖掉自己的书和收藏品，却意外的发现伪造名人信件可以卖到不错的价钱，于是她通过对名人文笔和叙事方式的模仿，开始造假。李在制作名人信件时，信件内容都是用打印机打上去的，落款加上名人的签名，可是奇怪的是，每个购买者在买的时候并没有怀疑这封信的真假，也不关注信件的内容，重点关注的只有最后那一个名人签名，这是李能够成功的主要原因。可是问题来了，那些收藏家收藏名人信件真的是为了对文学的追求吗，还是对名人的崇拜，恐怕只是为了炫耀或是专卖升值罢了。当收购书信的人捧着李写的信件爱不释手，并给出了不错的价钱时，给了李莫大的信心和安慰，自己的作品又何尝不能受到这样的优待。其实李对生活要求的不多，有地方住，有猫陪伴，有酒喝就足够了，可是即便是这样基本的要求也需要她拼尽全力才能够得到。李的性格注定不会有很多朋友，事实上她只有猫，可能不养猫的人或是没有独居的人不会理解猫给李带来的心理慰藉，在别人眼里猫是宠物，在她的眼中，猫就是她所有温暖的来源了，因此，在猫死的时候，李跪在地上崩溃大哭，残酷的生活都没有让她如此难过过。可是到后来她遇到了一个和她有相似处境的男闺蜜，生活一地鸡毛，两个人经常一起喝酒，相互抱怨，只有孤独的人才知道这个世界上有个能相互倾诉的人有多重要。最后李的事情开始败露，不仅要受到法律上的制裁，而且还面临别人的敲诈，男闺蜜为求自保把所有的责任都推到了她的身上，生活又一次跌入谷底。李的所作所为虽然触犯了法律，也可以看出这次造假事件产生的影响，因为李作假的信件已经被一些作者引用到了自己的书里，值得人们深思，难道别人说的真就是真的吗？结尾处，当男闺蜜病入膏肓，拖着病体和李见面时，要求李在回忆录里把自己写成29岁，至少没有那么讨厌。影片最后告诉我们李一共模仿了400多封名人信件，在她的一生中，从未有过像这段时间一样过得充实、快乐，违反法律是真，可是却能够看到一个孤独的人被别人认可时的喜悦。

Rows of mansions,cubic office with rigorous work rules,old fashion jazz music.....you can make a decent guess about the location without seeing the actual neiborghood.And yes it's new york, again.From countless films depicting people living in this metropolis,This one is the newly update with similiar background but a memorable twist.

New york is the epitome of big cities.In one corner,billionaire is drinking wine in Michelin restraunt,in another,charlatan is stepping on the bench hawking his wares.Everybody is busy surviving in this merciless capitalized junggle.Lee Isreal is this lady so ordinary that get no one's attention but made her own special story.When our protagonist Lee Isreal met her publisher,all she got were bitter words,"you can't success if you dont play the game","you can be an asshole when you're famous".A person have to work his ass off to climb the social ladder in this city or you be knocked out.

Lee Isreal,whose books stood on the discount shelf,can hardly make a living after losing her job.But as the implication of her name and her unpopular interst on jewish writer,she would probably contrive some crafty ideas.And here it is.By selling her old letters,she explored a whole market of "originals".Her unfond skill suddenly became an advantage.Piece by piece,she started to make famous writer's letter that escaped the scrutiny of most people.Not everyone could imitate this.That's explain her cherishment of those fake originals and her anger when her friend Jack try to sell her letters arbitarily,"these are literature treasures!!"

While revealling Lee's history of counterfeit,the story also shade light on her life and freindship.She is an lonely lady with a sick old cat,an alcholic with a gay drinking buddy, and a book writer with limited recognition.She share her secret fraud with jack and sharing became a bond of genuine freindship but when the bookshop owener want to extend thier freindship,the fraud become an obstacle.Just like she want to write book without concerning sales,she want to be a good neighbor but can't make her own room clean,all these contrary narratives somehow decriminalize her as a fraud but a midlle-aged poor lady who deserve some sympathy.When the final scripts rolls in,we know that her letters that personating other famous writers was so impressive that even some biography included them before knowing it's fake.Even an honest people may show a bit of admiration,at least i do.

Another great story,wonderful music.Norah jones song describe new york city as a beautiful disease,this melancholy tone sing well with the story.When the film gives a few shots of new york city,it create not familiarity but a sphere of possibilities,you just don't know if the people walking by is a delicate criminal ,a talented writer or a cat lover,maybe all of them.