Fay Grim (2007)

Image credit: Richard Sylvarnes

GRIM SCENARIO Posey (pictured with Harald Schrott) as Fay still plays the Fool for Hartley

At first, it looks as though Hal Hartley, that quirky/annoying maestro of the put-on pensée, has finally entered the real world. In Fay Grim, his continuation of Henry Fool (1998), Parker Posey's Fay, estranged wife of the gloomy, drunken bohemian nihilist Henry (Thomas Jay Ryan), is arm-twisted by the CIA into locating his confessional notebooks. The tomes may contain scandalous political secrets, but don't be fooled: The faux espionage plot, with its winks at terrorism, is really just a convoluted plea for the relevance of precious indie artistes (i.e., Hal Hartley).