Directed by:
Hal HartleyScreenplay:
Hal HartleyCinematography:
Sarah CawleyComposer:
Hal HartleyCast:
Parker Posey, Jeff Goldblum, Liam Aiken, Jasmin Tabatabai, Saffron Burrows, Leo Fitzpatrick, Claudia Michelsen, Anatole Taubman, Robert Seeliger (more)Plots(1)
Fay Grim is a single mother from Woolside in Queens, New York. She has her hands full trying to ensure that her 14-year-old son, Ned, will not grow up to be like his father Henry. Seven years ago, Ned's dad accidentally killed a malicious neighbour, and is now on the run. To this day nobody knows his whereabouts. Fay's brother Simon used to be a garbage man. Now he's a world-famous poet serving a ten-year prison sentence he received for having helped Henry get away. In the isolation of his cell Simon has had plenty of time to think about the heady days he spent with his brother-in-law.
He believes that Henry's allegedly worthless autobiography - his "confessions" - contain encoded messages about atrocities committed at an international level during the second half of the 20th century. The CIA informs Fay that Henry died in a hotel fire in Sweden shortly after he disappeared in 1997. His notebooks are now in the hands of the French government. The agents blackmail Fay to search for her husband's books and bring them back to the USA. Fay soon begins to realise just how little she knew about Henry and learns that he apparently led another existence. On Fay Grim's journey from New York to Paris, and from Paris to Istanbul, this simple and well-meaning American learns more about the ways of the world than one individual can bear. The film is a sequel to Hal Hartley's 1997 work HENRY FOOL.
(Berlinale)
Cast
Parker Posey
USA
Best movies:
Basquiat (1996)
Henry Fool (1997)
You've Got Mail (1998)
Jeff Goldblum
USA
Best movies:
Jurassic Park (1993)
Annie Hall (1977)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Liam Aiken
USA
Best movies:
Road to Perdition (2002)
Henry Fool (1997)
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Jasmin Tabatabai
Iran
Best movies:
No Place to Go (2000)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
Bandits (1997)
Saffron Burrows
UK
Best movies:
In the Name of the Father (1993)
Reign Over Me (2007)
Frida (2002)
Leo Fitzpatrick
USA
Best movies:
Serendipity (2001)
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (2002)
Kids (1995)
Claudia Michelsen
East Germany
Best movies:
Ku'damm 56 (2016) (series)
Ku'damm 59 (2018) (series)
The Same Sky (2017) (series)
Anatole Taubman
Switzerland
Best movies:
Taken (2008)
Frau Ella (2013)
Foyle's War (2002) (series)
Robert Seeliger
Canada
Best movies:
Two of Us (2000) (TV movie)
The Ghost Writer (2010)
Gracie's Choice (2004) (TV movie)
Sibel Kekilli
West Germany
Best movies:
When We Leave (2010)
Head-On (2004)
Auschwitz: The Last Journey (2006)
Erdal Yildiz
Turkey
Best movies:
Berlin Calling (2008)
Lola and Billy the Kid (1999)
Suck Me Shakespeer (2013)
David Scheller
West Germany
Best movies:
Time You Change (2010)
The Captain (2017)
Eight Miles High! (2007)
Suzan Anbeh
West Germany
Best movies:
French Kiss (1995)
The Door (2009)
Agnes and His Brothers (2004)
Nikolai Kinski
France
Best movies:
Farewell Mr Haffmann (2021)
Dream Factory (2019)
The Sinking of the Laconia (2010) (TV movie)
Thomas Jay Ryan
USA
Best movies:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
Henry Fool (1997)
Elina Löwensohn
Romania
Best movies:
Schindler's List (1993)
The Girl Without Hands (2016)
Basquiat (1996)
Mehdi Nebbou
France
Best movies:
Munich (2005)
Berlin Calling (2008)
English Vinglish (2012)
Harald Schrott
Austria
Best movies:
The Legend of Rita (2000)
Wendezeit (2019) (TV movie)
Der Seerosenteich (2002) (TV movie)
Jevgenij Sitočin
Soviet Union
Best movies:
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
The Final Journey (2017)
4 Days in May (2011)
Tim Seyfi
Turkey
Best movies:
Head-On (2004)
Desert Flower (2009)
Das jüngste Gericht (2008) (TV movie)