Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It’s hard to overstate the cultural importance of a figure like Nora Ephron. Not only was she the mind behind cinematic classics like Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally, but she was also an intensely interesting writer and creator who became the voice and the name of a newer interpretation of feminism. While the conversation around feminism was being dominated by extremes, Ephron approached feminism and femininity with a level of conflict that women creators from Roxane Gay (author of Bad Feminist) to Lena Dunham (creator, director, and star of Girls) still relate to to this day. Through her smart and witty writing, Ephron seemed to say — as Dunham expresses it —“I want all the things that women are supposed to want, and also I hate all the things that women are supposed to want.”
Capturing this immensely complicated woman was the challenge HBO undertook when it set out to create a documentary about the life of Nora Ephron, and on this front, Everything Is Copy — Nora Ephron: Scripted & Unscripted more than accomplishes its goal.
True to the documentary’s subject, Everything is Copy is a nuanced and difficult-to-place biographical documentary. Though it is overwhelmingly in praise of its accomplished reporter, essayist, novelist, and screenwriter, there is a warts and all mentality that dominates every presentation of Ephron. The doc isn’t afraid to explore Ephron’s less charming attributes, from her barbed humor to how easily she was willing to expose or attack her friends, family, and colleagues in her writing. There is rarely a counterargument to these critiques, which mirrors the motto surrounding Ephron’s life.
The documentary gets its title from a phrase Ephron’s mother, screenwriter Phoebe Ephron, used to say: Everything is copy. Though this phrase is never directly explained, it presumably means that anything in life is fair game to write about and use creatively. But Everything Is Copy isn’t merely a retelling of Ephron’s life, as there is a much larger and more compelling narrative going on behind the camera. Jacob Bernstein, Ephron’s son, directed the film, and through that personal lens, this documentary about a remarkable and influential person is transformed into the story of a son truly learning about his mother for the first time. In that way, the documentary of Ephron’s life feels almost like a Nora Ephron movie. Think of it like a more parental Julie and Julia.
And what a fun movie it is. From Ephron’s transition from a parody writer of the New York Post to actual Post reporter to the raw emotion that filled her novel and eventual movie, Heartburn, there is a level of dramaticism that makes even the most mundane elements of Ephron’s past feel bold. That being said, the documentary takes a while to build up. Once the film starts to wrap up Ephron’s childhood (around the 15-minute mark), it begins to show its true potential.
Everything Is Copy also has several emotional moments from the big names that characterized Ephron’s professional life. From Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep to Meg Ryan and The New Yorker editor David Remnick, it’s clear that Ephron’s loss was acutely felt in the creative community. Everything Is Copy is an intelligent and bright celebration of a great woman’s life that will have you missing Ephron’s wry honesty and reaching for her essays.
[Stream Everything Is Copy on HBO Now]
Photos: HBO
