Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Based on the life of Lee Israel, who made her living writing profiles of Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, cosmetics executive Estée Lauder, et al. Eventually, she went broke when she fell out of step with the publishing industry’s infatuation with warts-and-all biographies. Israel, played by Melissa McCarthy, abetted by her friend Jack (Richard E. Grant), an ex-con, begins selling forged letters allegedly penned by deceased writers and actors. When one “by” Noel Coward finally raises suspicion, her market dries up, and she begins stealing real letters from library archives to sell.