FILM REVIEW: ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me’

The Artist’s Way: Melissa McCarthy offers us a must-see window into the darker recesses of the creative soul…

When a mate asked me to go see Can You Ever Forgive Me? I was admittedly a little unsure.

I hadn’t heard much pre-press about it, don’t feel either here nor there about Melissa McCarthy as an actor, and had a list of films as long as my arm that I was more desperate to see before we get slammed with the usual round of Christmas releases about to roll into our cinemas.

Well, how more mistaken could I have been in my recalcitrance to see a film?

And, how perfect that the film should also star Richard E. Grant in a role that felt a robust reprise of his signature role from Withnail and I 30 years on.

Even better, a true story — and one that will resonate so deeply for many creative people trying desperately to keep afloat on the oft-times stormy waters they try to stay professionally afloat in.

Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) is a Times Best Selling author fallen on hard times. Super hard times. Previous books of hers languish on the remains stacks in second-hand bookstores for 75% off, her agent won’t take her calls unless fooled into thinking Nora Ephron is on the other end, Israel’s faithful companion cat is unwell (with a heartless vet who won’t treat it until past accounts are paid up), and she is so far behind in her bills and rent that she’ll take a lousy $2 for some used books…which will be spent on another neat Scotch to drown her sorrows.

When gay man-about-town, dandy Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant) wanders into the bar of Israel’s life, followed not long after by a stroke of good fortune while researching her next book (an unsellable biography of Fanny Bryce) when amongst some research materials she discovers an original letter penned by Bryce, the stage is set for a black comedy that is way more black than comedy.

It’s black, so very very black, made all the more heartbreaking when one remembers it’s based on a true story.

And therein lies the bittersweet joy of this tale of highs and woes; of losing much-loved feline friends and almost losing newfound ones; and of the snuffing out of the momentary glimmer of finding love again.

So many creative people find themselves trying to create their art in a world where rewards are few, long-term careers rare and stability is the great impossible. As they tread their perilous artistic paths, they must negotiate all the normal stuff of life while managing a below-the-poverty-line lifestyle where for every hour they put into their art they must often put many more hours into supporting themselves to do so in shitty jobs that don’t pay well and suck them dry of energy and life force.

And while it can’t be denied that it is sometimes in this kind of pressure-cooker existence that the best art is made, it is also the same place where so much physical and mental damage can occur.

Substance abuse, relationship breakdowns, poverty, loss of social standing — just a few of the litany of woes that can come with being true to your creative vision.

Of course, there are positives too.

That eye-popping moment the first time you see something you’ve written published.

The flutter of joy in your heart when your agent calls you and tells you it’s a ‘yes’.

The blushing-cheeked joy at a gallery exhibition you proudly invite your friends and family to see your art sitting alongside the blood, sweat and oils of others.

Those agony/ecstasy breakthrough moments when the brain is flooded with endorphins and soul takes wing to fly, even for just a moment or two.

This is what I loved about Can You Ever Forgive Me. It is an unflinching portrayal of the life of the modern artist, delivered by an actor who no doubt herself has been between a rock and a hard place at times throughout her career, meaning she can bring a sense of steely truth to the role merely by exposing a little of her soul to us.

McCarthy deserves many plaudits for this film, as does the wider film-making team for delivering it to our screens.

Every actor, writer, director, singer, sculptor, painter, dancer should see it.

Anyone who has ever dared be true to their art and themselves must see it.

And just about everyone else should see it so as to get a glimpse into the dark-edged life of the archetypal artist in the garret, and how the glamorous-not-so-glamorous life of pursuing your dreams is both boon and bane, yet bloody impossible to ignore and for which many will go to extraordinary lengths to be true to