By Joanne Sargent
Contributor
They say everyone has a novel in them, except, apparently, Henri Pick.
At least that’s the opinion of hoity-toity literary critic Jean-Michel Rouche. This, after Pick’s novel, published posthumously, becomes a bestseller and Rouche refuses to believe that the supposedly illiterate pizza proprietor could have written it. Rouche’s quest to determine authorship of the book is the basis of our next Shuswap Film Society movie, The Mystery of Henri Pick.
It all starts at the Library of Rejected Books (yup) in a small Breton town, where Rouche’s girlfriend Daphne discovers Pick’s manuscript, “The Last Hours of a Love Story,” and realizes she’s stumbled on a potential masterpiece. She publishes the book to huge acclaim, but Rouche, her soon to be ex, is adamant Pick couldn’t be the author. Even Pick’s wife and bookworm daughter admit that they never saw him ever read – never mind write – a book.
Pick’s daughter’s desire for the truth has her accompany Rouche as he investigates France’s newest literary star. They pursue a string of clues, evidence and red herrings from Paris to Brittany and back. The list of suspects gets longer as the film progresses, each with a reason they can’t be the writer. With twists and turns galore, The Mystery of Henri Pick is a captivating and funny literary whodunit.
With French subtitles, The Mystery of Henri Pick shows at 4 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Salmar Classic. And don’t miss First We Eat, the Canadian Documentary about an Arctic family that lives without any grocery store food for a year, next Wednesday the 25th at 7:30.
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