Mr Wilder & Me by Jonathan Coe: book review

Mr Wilder & Me (2020) is set in England, Greece, France, and Germany in 1977.

In the present day, sixty-year old Greek-born Calista is in England, where she lives with her husband Geoffrey and two daughters Francesca and Ariane. She is a composer, working on her latest project called Billy, which reminds her of her time with Billy Wilder in 1977.

In 1977, when Calista was 21 years old in Greece, she worked for Hollywood film director Billy Wilder. She was the translator on the film set of his movie Fedora, mainly dealing with press conferences. He was 71 years old with a string of successes – Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina (1954), Some Like it Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), Irma la Douce (1963), and more.

Over the year, Calista follows Billy Wilder to Munich in Germany and Paris in France for further scenes, working as his screenwriter’s secretary. She meets stars, she attends parties, she becomes friends with the great director, and she has her first love with a young man.

The last time she sees Billy is in 1996 when he is 90 years old.

In this re-imagination of Billy Wilder’s life, Jonathan Coe creates an interesting story of movies, fame, love, and memories.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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