Jonathan Coe: Mr Wilder and Me

The latest addition to my website is Jonathan Coe‘s Mr Wilder and Me. This is a funny and serious story about a young woman who accidentally gets involved in the making of Billy Wilder‘s second-to-last film Fedora, leading her to a career in composing film music. We follow in some detail the making of he film that does not, on the whole, go well but we also get a serious side, as Wilder, a Jew whose family were murdered in the Holocaust, confronts Holocaust denial. Our heroine/narrator Calista (she is part Greek) carries on the story to the present day where her career, like Wilder’s, is taking a downward turn. Another superb book from Coe, both funny and serious and, as always, telling a good story.

Leave a Reply