Can You Ever Forgive Me? Movie Guide for Forensics Handwriting / Document Unit

"Can You Ever Forgive Me?" is a 2018 biographical film starring Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel, a once-successful biographer who turns to forging letters from deceased authors to make ends meet. As she delves deeper into her deceptive practices, she forms an unlikely partnership with Jack Hock, played by Richard E. Grant. The film explores the concepts of literary forgery, as well as themes of loneliness, desperation, and the consequences of one's actions. McCarthy's performance earned her critical acclaim, and the film received several award nominations, including Academy Award nominations for both McCarthy and Grant.

This viewing guide is designed to be used in a high school forensics class during a unit on handwriting comparison and document examination.

This viewing guide provides pre-viewing questions to hook students, as well as questions to answer during the film and post viewing discussion questions. Also included is a signature comparison activity using the letters forged by Lee Israel.