My Year in New York is one of the private theatrical release films and will therefore be broadcast exclusively tonight on Canal +. Margaret Qualley – very prominent since the success of Maid on Netflix – plays a young woman who discovers the world of publishing.
What is it about ?
In the 1990s, a young woman dreaming of writing was hired as an assistant to JD Salinger’s literary agent.
My Year in New York, a film written and directed by Philippe Falardeau based on the eponymous novel by Joanna Rakoff with Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth…
A little air of the Devil wears Prada
If you liked The Devil Wears Prada and are a fan of JD Salinger then My Year in New York is for you. The film dives into the 1990s, the style is already vintage and there is an air of nostalgia. Margaret Qualley plays Joanna Rakoff, a young, newly graduated woman who aspires to be a writer. But instead, she gets a job as a literary agent’s assistant.
She finds herself working for the dreaded Margaret – portrayed with grace and steadfastness by Sigourney Weaver – who happens to be the agent of JD Salinger, the author of The Heart Catcher, a foundational work that has changed the lives of thousands of readers, written by a man who now lives cut off from the world.
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Margaret is a leading woman who runs her agency at the wand. Always impeccably dressed, the brushing and the white wick always perfectly in place, a bit posh and from time to time brittle, she reminds in many ways a certain Miranda Priestly …
Joanna, she is full of spirit and passion but feels a little out of step in this agency where computers are banned and all mail is typed. And once in a while, when she picks up the phone, she finds herself with JD Salinger on the other end of the line trying to reach Margaret and chatting nicely with Joanna calling her Susanna.
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The film is not lacking in charm and even offers some pretty little unexpected dreamlike sequences. Margaret Qualley embodies Joanna with a lot of freshness and shows yet another side of her talent. Sigourney Weaver is Imperial as usual. But this film lacks a little something that takes away the feeling of being in front of a work that is a little too smooth and anecdotal.
The intentions of Philippe Falardeau, screenwriter and director of the film, lack clarity as to the real heart of the subject. Is this yet another declaration of love for Salinger? of an initiatory film on the birth of a writer? The director struggles to choose and risks losing the viewer along the way.
