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My Salinger Year

Play trailer 2:01 Poster for My Salinger Year R 2021 1h 41m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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71% Tomatometer 87 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
New York in the 90s: After leaving graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, Joanna (Margaret Qualley) gets hired as an assistant to Margaret (Sigourney Weaver), the stoic and old-fashioned literary agent of J. D. Salinger. Fluctuating between poverty and glamour, she spends her days in a plush, wood-panelled office -- where dictaphones and typewriters still reign and agents doze off after three-martini lunches -- and her nights in a sink-less Brooklyn apartment with her socialist boyfriend. Joanna's main task is processing Salinger's voluminous fan mail, but as she reads the heart-wrenching letters from around the world, she becomes reluctant to send the agency's impersonal standard letter and impulsively begins personalizing the responses. The results are both humorous and moving, as Joanna, while using the great writer's voice, begins to discover her own.
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My Salinger Year

Critics Reviews

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Pamela Hutchinson Sight & Sound May 28
My Salinger Year sidesteps the slush pile and offers a thoughtful study of a young woman realizing she must shed her responsibilities to other writers in order to put her own words on the page. Go to Full Review Mark Kermode Kermode & Mayo's Film Review 05/24/2021
You can't help comparing it to The Devil Wears Prada, which is sharper and funnier and more bitter...but it's the very definition of a film that goes down nicely, there are better things it can be but worse things too... Go to Full Review Charlotte O'Sullivan London Evening Standard 05/23/2021
3/5
Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley are two of the juiciest actresses in America and, thanks to them, this period drama is never less than tantalising. Go to Full Review Geoffrey Macnab iNews.co.uk 01/16/2025
2/5
This literary drama is too bland and nostalgic to have much emotional impact. Go to Full Review Rachael Mead InDaily 02/17/2023
Sigourney Weaver steals the limelight in this beautifully shot adaptation of Joanna Rakoff’s best-selling memoir. Go to Full Review Keith Garlington Keith & the Movies 08/17/2022
3/5
“My Salinger Year” is a charming and earnest drama that tells its story with a warm sincerity but muted emotions. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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S L @YesitsmeSL Jan 6 My husband and I absolutely enjoyed this movie, the camera shots, the story, the music... So refreshing and different. It reminds us of Amélie Poulin, another great movie, without being the same kind of course. Great cinematographic shots. We watched it a second time : definitely worth it to understand all the subtile details in this jewel. See more Snuggly @RT46398455 11/12/2024 A movie about nothing. Joanna is a writer-wannabe who becomes a secretary to make a living. She replaces her out of state boyfriend with a washed up boyfriend who apparently doesn't wash his hair. Instead, they wash the dishes in the bathtub together. He calls her bubba a lot. Other things happen. The end. See more Rosana B @RosanaBotafogo 10/06/2024 Baseado no livro de memórias de mesmo nome de Joanna Rakoff, delicadamente adorável, sem saber exatamente se foi fidedigno, mas com um lirismo e intensidade estonteante, embalada por uma linda e leve trilha sonora, com atuações primorosas da iniciante Margaret Qualleye da talentosíssima Sigourney Weaver, roteiro atraente, as cartas dão uma familiaridade e dramaticidade, a vida pregressa a fama de Joanna, bem como a toxidade de seu relacionamento e a libertação de um vida mediana e rotineira... See more Andrea F @AndreaFrancolini 02/21/2024 Lovely film very nicely directed and acted - Margaret absolutly adorable See more peter S @RT60369833 01/08/2024 Horrible. experiment in film making. A film with no point, no sense and no continuity. Margaret Qualley is the anorexic talking about everything except. Her appearance is skelettal. Her voice is cavernous. It's bad. See more vander a @RT27493688 07/04/2022 It's a very sweet character study movie. You should watch it when you're not looking for something heavy. All the actors are quite excellent. Someone compared it to The Devil Wears Prada and of course it's a similar situation but this isn't a comedy and doesn't try to be. It's actually more like The Devil Wears Prada - the book. I quite enjoyed it and agree more with the critics than the public in this review. That it got less appreciation by the public is surprising. See more Read all reviews
My Salinger Year

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Cast & Crew

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Philippe Falardeau

Director

Margaret Qualley

Joanna

Sigourney Weaver

Margaret

Douglas Booth

Don

Seána Kerslake

Jenny

Colm Feore

Daniel

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My Salinger Year

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My Salinger Year

My Salinger Year (2020) My Salinger Year (2020) A scene from "My Salinger Year." A scene from "My Salinger Year." A scene from "My Salinger Year." A scene from "My Salinger Year." A scene from "My Salinger Year." A scene from "My Salinger Year." View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis New York in the 90s: After leaving graduate school to pursue her dream of becoming a writer, Joanna (Margaret Qualley) gets hired as an assistant to Margaret (Sigourney Weaver), the stoic and old-fashioned literary agent of J. D. Salinger. Fluctuating between poverty and glamour, she spends her days in a plush, wood-panelled office -- where dictaphones and typewriters still reign and agents doze off after three-martini lunches -- and her nights in a sink-less Brooklyn apartment with her socialist boyfriend. Joanna's main task is processing Salinger's voluminous fan mail, but as she reads the heart-wrenching letters from around the world, she becomes reluctant to send the agency's impersonal standard letter and impulsively begins personalizing the responses. The results are both humorous and moving, as Joanna, while using the great writer's voice, begins to discover her own.
Director
Philippe Falardeau
Producer
Luc Déry, Kim McCraw
Screenwriter
Philippe Falardeau
Distributor
IFC Films
Production Co
Parallel Film Productions Ltd.
Rating
R (Some Sexual References|Language)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 5, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 5, 2021
Box Office (Gross USA)
$54.0K
Runtime
1h 41m
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