The story of Henry Fool is instantly recognisable as a narrative by Hal Hartley (honoured in 1992 with a retrospective in Rotterdam), but this is the first epic variation on the theme. That is enough to make the film unique. A shy refuse collector, Simon Grimm (Urbaniak), who always seems to be a laughing stock, is universally despised and pestered by locals. Neither his mother nor his sister (Posey) offer any comfort. The first to believe in him is Henry Fool (Ryan), a chain-smoking barfly who regards himself as a writing genius and is apparently brimming with self-confidence. Fool moves into the cellar flat of the Grimmfamily and encourages Simon to start writing too. The unexpected result is an enormous poem that makes Simon world-famous. Fool’s life work is meanwhile written off as pretentious rubbish. That is quite a trial for their friendship. Thus Henry Fool tells a story of artistic originality and genius, and about the influence of fame on relationships with family, friends and the world we know.The enormous number of ideas, ingenious inventions and philosophical jokes make Henry Fool a typical Hartley. The director: ‘When people ask me: “Is this comedy or is this drama?” I don’t really have an easy time answering. I don’t consider myself a writer of comedies or a writer of dramas. Writing, I try to work out some sort of reconciliation of the incongruities I see in life. Sometimes they make me laugh, sometimes they make me cry.’
