Lead Review

  • Book: Mr Wilder and Me
  • Location: Europe, Los Angeles
  • Author: Jonathan Coe

Review Author: Tina Hartas

Location

Content

The book opens and there is a list of the places to which the reader will be transported. Perfect for literary tourism!

London / Los Angeles / Greece / Munich/ Paris

At the heart of the novel is the story of Billy Wilder’s latter years in the film industry, an Austrian who made it big in the Golden Years of Hollywood and whose star was diminishing as the decades passed. He worked with Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe (to name but a few of the stellar actors) and in the book Al Pacino pops up (unfavourably depicted as an American abroad, when only a burger will do – although I kind of get that if the alternative is a Schweinshaxe and Leberknödel – even at the swanky Bayerischer Hof). “Some Like it Hot” and “The Apartment” are his films.

n the novel, filming has started on Fedora, a German-French film directed by Mr Wilder and it is serendipity that brings the young Calista to Mr Wilder’s restaurant dining table, whilst she is travelling around USA with her friend, Gill. Calista is unused to alcohol and probably made a bit of a fool of herself, although with a simple, involuntary action she helps move the film plot along – much to Mr Wilder’s joy. He is indebted to her. She then finds herself in Greece and her services as translator are required when the filming moves there. And thence to Munich and on to Paris and London.

In the book Calista, now in her later years, is looking back over her time working on the film, revisiting the 1970s/80s. She is a well known composer. It is almost a story of innocence.. and, yet? Calista forms a strong friendship with Mr Diamond, a much older, married man in the film industry who works together with Wilder and they talk and ponder the order of the day. And that’s it. Looking through the lens of the 21st Century I found myself thinking “hmmm, really?” as they chatted and hung out together.

It is such a whimsical read, a pleasure to pick up… it is written with a charm and child-like wonder, portraying the industry that was (as we now clearly know) not all it seemed. It demands that the reader suspend modern day cynicism (do try!), which of course is hard when our reality today is coloured by the antics of venal and mendacious leaders who are the polar opposite of the tenet of this novel.

The author delights in bringing experiences to his readers. Indeed a treatise on Brie features – there are several pages where the classic French cheese is centre stage. There is, however, no plot to speak of and he encourages the reader to swirl around, sometimes aimlessly and just enjoy the moment; how often do we get to do that at the moment given politics and Covid?

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