Margaret Qualley

Sigourney Weaver

Douglas Booth

Seána Kerslake

Brían F. O'Byrne

Colm Feore

Théodore Pellerin

Yanic Truesdale

Hamza Haq

Leni Parker

Ellen David

Romane Denis

Tim Post

Gavin Drea

Matt Holland

Xiao Sun

Andy Bradshaw

Christine Lan

Andres Romo Salido

Arthur Holden

Suzanna Lenir

Danny Gilmore

Hayley Kezber

Lise Roy

Gillian Doria

Maria Monakhova

Catherine Kidd

Samantha Hodhod

Elana Dunkelman

Alexandre Dubois

Raphael Grosz-Harvey

Robert Higden

Jonathan Dubsky

Guillaume Martineau

Carlo Mestroni

Sylvia Stewart

Fionn Higgins

Marie-Julie Besse

Jocelyn Spronken Forget

Jean-Nicolas Barron

Hélène Lemieux

Réal Hamel

Catherine Gélinas

Sabrina Trudel

Alan D'Angerio

Benoit Thériault

Rosina Bucci

Julie Breton

Marie-Pierre Gratton

Jean-Charles Claveau

Marie-Ève Joncas

Éve Christin-Cuerrier

Maude Beaunoyer

Éric Bourdeau

Kathy Ann Thomas

Philip Michael Gagnon

Patrice Delvaux

Victoria Wood

Martin Roy

Isabelle Day

Anthony Groulx

Anne-Sophie Leblanc

Bernard Gariépy Strobl

Erik Daniel

Jonathan Wenk

Jean Déry

Olivia Nikolayenko

Nicolas Mignot

Daniel Goyens

Jason Nardella

Julie Amyot

Jean Scarabin

Patricia Durocher

Sébastien Courteau

Réal Saulnier

Loïc Le Jossec

Joakim Rivest-Girard

Jimmy Vidas

Sabrine Canuel

Nancy Ferlatte

Joanna Rakoff

Melissa Nepton

Isabelle Côté

Simone Leclerc

Julie Baumann

Narcisse Brochu-Beauchemin

Genevieve Ferderber

Catherine Filion-Villeneuve

Jae Eun Shim

Francis Péloquin

Maude St-Jean

Claudie-Ann Landry

Pierre Dallaire

Denis Giroux

Serge Pominville

Edith Plourde

Robbie O'Farrell

Camille Paquette-Roy

Sheila Hannigan

Jocelyn Veilleux

Richard Irwin

Martin Léon

Nadia Rona

Fanny Hudon

Claude Tremblay

Simon Blouin

Sébastien Lauzon

Sarah-Rose Buchanan

Patrick Boulianne

Francis Morin

Philippe Falardeau

Frédérique Broos

Anik Drapeau

Joël Gariépy

Lucas Bazzarelli

Gina Arganese

Jonathan Lecot

Hugo Tardif

Eames Gagnon

Olivier Proulx

Bruno La Haye

Martin Lussier

Christian Corvellec

Raphaël Thibodeau

Claude La Haye

Béatrice Leclerc

Martin Ruiz

Brigitte Poupart

Morgan Carparelli

David Carbonneau

Mona Medawar

Mary-Anne Awori

Rodolphe Paquereau

Corentin Chaudet

Léa-Valérie Létourneau

Etienne Quellette

Drama

My Salinger Year

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J.D. Salinger didn’t write to be read – or seen. The author of The Catcher in the Rye stopped publishing in 1965 – but continued writing until his death 45 years later –, and long before that he had made up his mind to refuse to allow film adaptations of his work (a non-acceptance that has miraculously survived him).

As a result, the lazy and the uncreative have had to find alternative avenues for profiting from Salinger's work. The most recent example of this is My Salinger Year, a drama written and directed by Philippe Falardeau, based on Joanna Rakoff's memoir of the same name.

In 1995, Joanna (Margaret Qualley), an aspiring writer and poet, moves to New York, where she gets a job at one of New York's oldest literary agencies. Unbeknownst to Joanna, the agency looks after the interests of notoriously reclusive writer J. D. Salinger (additionally, she moves into an apartment with her new boyfriend, who is writing a novel, which, when finished, fits perfectly inside a thin manila envelope; I’d venture that perhaps the envelope contains a flash drive with the book in it, but this is the mid-90s, after all).

Joanna's duties include responding to Salinger's voluminous fan mail. According to agency policy, Joanna replies with a generic formula explaining that Salinger does not read fan letters (and if the letters were anything like the ones in the movie, he wasn't missing much – and neither were we). She, however, becomes tempted to write back something with a little more substance to certain Salinger fans – though not having read any of his work (not even Catcher), it’s hard to tell what led her to believe she was qualified to become Salinger’s self-appointed mouthpiece.

The only reason the writer's last name appears in the title of this movie is to lure unsuspecting viewers into watching it in hopes of learning something valuable about Salinger. As it turns out, though, the plot has little or nothing to do with the author (and it isn’t even clever enough to be a pastiche like Igby Goes Down) except a perverse eagerness to pry into and exploit his two most valued possessions: his privacy and his art.

Consider this: in May 1986, Salinger discovered that British writer Ian Hamilton intended to publish a biography that made extensive use of letters Salinger had written to other authors and friends. Salinger sued to stop publication of the book, and in Salinger v. Random House, the court ruled that Hamilton's extensive use of the letters, including quoting and paraphrasing, was not acceptable as the author's right to control publication overrode the right of fair use.

It doesn't take a genius to conclude that Salinger wouldn't be much happier with a book and film based on correspondence that he didn't read – let alone replied to –, starring a character who has deliberately avoided the author’s oeuvre, because she wants to be “provoked,” not “entertained.” All things considered, My Salinger Year is neither provocative nor entertaining.

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My Salinger Year Q&A with Author Joanna Rakoff

My Salinger Year - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Films

MY SALINGER YEAR - Official HD Trailer - A film by Philippe Falardeau

MY SALINGER YEAR - Official Trailer

MY SALINGER YEAR Trailer [HD] Mongrel Media

My Salinger Year new clip "Computer" from Berlin Film Festival 2020 - 3/3

My Salinger Year new clip "Boy from Winston Salem" from Berlin Film Festival 2020 - 2/3

My Salinger Year new clip "If Jerry Calls" from Berlin Film Festival 2020 - 1/3