The Mystery of Henri Pick

A French film that begins in a library in Brittany. One part of the library is strange. Manuscripts rejected by publishers and never printed are collected there and sit on the shelves. A young editor goes there. She finds a text, reads it, and decides it is a great novel. The author's name is Henri Pick. The man is dead and ran a pizzeria. The book is published. It draws great attention, sells heavily, and the story is discussed across the country. Rouche is a literary critic. He had a television programme, lost his job, and does not believe the story. From there the film becomes an investigation. He goes to Brittany, talks to the widow, finds the daughter, and goes through the library's records. Joséphine joins him. Pick's daughter knows her father never read a book and is curious too. What the narrative is interested in is not literature but the story itself: not whether the book is good but the fact that the tale behind it is what sells it. Rouche is not likeable. He may be right but cannot be right without wounding people, and the film makes him pay for it. The tone is light. The narrative is built like a crime story but there is no threat; everyone is polite and the tension is carried by curiosity alone. The idea of a library of rejected books is not invented. It comes from an American novel, and an archive really was founded in imitation of it. The source is David Foenkinos's novel. Fabrice Luchini, Camille Cottin, Alice Isaaz and Bastien Bouillon are in the cast. Rémi Bezançon directed and co-wrote. Who it is for: anyone who likes light crime stories set in the world of books and publishing. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a real mystery; the narrative is low-key and the solution is an explanation rather than a surprise.