Genius

A film about the relationship between a writer and his editor. Max Perkins is an editor at a New York publishing house. He is calm, orderly and does not take off his hat even indoors. One day an enormous manuscript lands on his desk: Thomas Wolfe's novel, rejected by everyone. Perkins accepts it and the work begins. Wolfe writes without stopping; the page count grows, the sentences lengthen and the editor has to cut. The two sit in a room for months working line by line. The film's question is whose a book is. Wolfe counts every cut page as a lost piece; Perkins believes he made the book readable. The relationship is both productive and destructive. The side lines are Aline Bernstein, whom Wolfe was involved with, and Perkins's family life. Perkins was working with other writers in the same years and the film touches on them briefly. Colin Firth plays Perkins, Jude Law plays Wolfe and Nicole Kidman plays Aline. Michael Grandage's first film; he comes from the theatre. An interesting subject for anyone who likes literary history and films that look at the process of writing. For a viewer expecting a lively narrative, the film consists almost entirely of two men in a room arguing over a text.