A movie about a found manuscript. By now I thought I’d seen every movie permutation about writing a book, evidently not. The Mystery of Henri Pick movie provides a new mystery angle. A delightful ‘who done it’ or ‘who didn’t do it’ in this case, the movie is well worth watching and would be a great night out for a book club.
Young editor Daphne Despero (Alice Isaaz) longs to find a manuscript worth publishing. When she hears about the Library Of Rejected Books, she takes a look and stumbles across a work entitled The Last Hours Of A Love Story by Henri Pick.
Upon reading it she realises she’s found the Holy Grail of publishing, a masterpiece. To confirm this she shows it to her writer boyfriend who agrees, and so she takes the manuscript to her boss. The novel gets printed and is indeed the acclaimed hit they all thought. But there’s a problem.
Henri Pick is a humble pizza chef whose wife never saw him read a book let alone write one. Sadly he cannot defend himself, having passed on two years prior to the discovery of his manuscript.
Enter literary critic Jean-Michel Rouche (Fabrice Luchini) who uses his book club styled television show to raise the question. How could a pizza chef have written such a novel? His savage questionning of Pick’s wife see’s Rouche sacked from the TV show. With time on his hands, and bitterness in his heart, Rouche sets out to find the truth. Along the way Rouch teams up with Pick’s daughter Josephine (Camile Cottin).
The Mystery of Henri Pick is a delightful who done it, or didn’t do it in this case. Luchini is excellent as the ruthless sleuth.
As the mystery is solved I pondered:
- Anyone interested in writing or reading will get a kick out of this one
- The movie provides some interesting marketing ideas for emerging writers;
- If only there was a Library Of Rejected Books;
- Perfect for a book club night out.
French with English subtitles
For more information go to Luna Cinema
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