My Salinger Year: Memoir-Based Drama about Catcher in the Rye Writer Blurry As its Subject

By Thom Ernst

Rating: B

If there is anything to learn from director Philippe Falardeau’s My Salinger Year, it’s that the creation of art and the expectations placed on the artist — in literature and in film — can be both a mundane procedure and an inequitable ordeal.

Falardeau is a director whose instincts work well for his audience, the same audience that found and embraced his earlier features, including the Oscar-nominated Monsieur Lazhar (2011).

But his appeal might be less obvious to those banking on a commercial success. My Salinger Year is taken from the memoir by Joanna Rakoff about her internship at a New York publisher, where she was given the job of answering fan letters to the literary hermit who authored The Catcher in the Rye. Her approach to this normally menial task put her at odds with her employer and unexpectedly connected her to the author.

There is a good film here, but is it the film Falardeau wanted to make?

There is a clash in My Salinger Year between a storyteller whose choices defy traditional narrative and the call to enter a more commercially competitive playing field. It’s a clash that mars My Salinger Year with what seem like second-guesses and near misses.

The reclusive J.D. Salinger is the hook that carries the film towards its third act. Falardeau, with an almost Waiting for Godot tease, dangles Salinger, American literature’s notorious recluse, with the unpromised prospect of bringing him onscreen.

Anyone who takes the time to read the screen credits is aware that the role of Salinger is credited to Tim Post. But is Post only a voice actor here? Maybe. But even hearing the disembodied voice of someone performing Salinger feels like a historic breakthrough.

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One can’t help but analyze the cadence, and intent in the voice, as though deciphering the meaning behind every word to determine what makes a genius tick. And we are likely to be surprised by Salinger’s graciousness, and almost apologetic tone.

These moments are fitfully addressed through the anxious, and bright-faced enthusiasm of Joanna (Margaret Qualley), the intern at Salinger’s literary agency. Qualley’s performance is firmly rooted in Joanna’s awareness that she is in a turning point of her life, taking in every moment the year offers.

The film’s closest commercial relative would be The Devil Wears Prada (2006) with Sigourney Weaver replacing Meryl Streep as the film’s embolic powerhouse mentor. With no discredit to the other performers, Weaver is the remarkable one here. Then again, she is given the most to do.

Margaret is the character with all the character. Weaver is queen bee on screen (as she is likely to have been on set), but a gentler one than we’re used to seeing. And that’s much to the film’s credit.

Falardeau resists the urge to recklessly flaunt any perception that a successful, powerful woman must be conniving, brash, and insensitive. If Joanna cowers when Margaret enters the room, it’s from being in the presence of someone worthy of reverence. Falardeau seems to have an inherent understanding of the sentiments that inspire admiration.

Still, My Salinger Year leaves much wanting. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth seeing. There are remarkable and rewarding moments in the film despite its lack of bite. And Weaver doesn’t betray Margaret with any fanciful whims to chew up the screen a la her Oscar nominated performance in Mike Nichols’ 1988 film, Working Girl, a movie title that speaks volumes about that earlier film’s limited attempt at being progressive.

Falardeau is too fine of a filmmaker to let Weaver run rampant. It’s arguably the best choice. Yet ironically, it’s a choice that is sure to get in the way of My Salinger Year being regarded as anything other than a quiet, hidden gem.

CLICK HERE to view Bonnie Laufer’s video Q&A with Sigourney Weaver and director Phillipe Falardeau.

My Salinger Year. Directed by Phillipe Falardeau. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Margaret Qualley and Tim Post. Available on VoD beginning March 5.