The Words (2012)

The Words is a 2012 drama-thriller film, written and directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal in their directorial debut. It stars Bradley Cooper, Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons, Ben Barnes, and Dennis Quaid.

Synopsis: Famous author Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid) attends to a public reading of his new book, The Words, centered on Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), an aspiring writer who lives in New York City with his girlfriend, Dora (Zoe Saldana). With the help of his father (J.K. Simmons), Rory gets a job as a mail supervisor in a literary agency and attempts to sell his first novel, that is continually rejected by publishers.

Rory and Dora eventually get married and, during their honeymoon in Paris, Dora presents Rory with an old briefcase bought from an antiques store. Returning to America, Rory finds a masterfully written manuscript in the briefcase and transcribes it to his laptop. Mistakenly assuming Rory wrote it, Dora encourages him to meet with a publisher, Joseph Cutler (Zeljko Ivanek), who offers Rory a contract upon reading the manuscript, which Rory accepts. The book is a hit, and Rory becomes an awarded author.

Hammond takes a break from the reading and goes backstage, where he is introduced by his agent (John Hannah) to Danielle (Olivia Wilde), a student and amateur writer who wants to interview him, and notes that he is divorced. Hammond agrees to meet her after the ceremony and returns to the podium, where he continues to read the book.

The second part of the reading details Rory's encounter with the Old Man (Jeremy Irons), who reveals himself as the true author of the manuscript. He explains that, as a young man (Ben Barnes), he was stationed in France in the final days of World War II and fell in love with a waitress named Celia (Nora Arnezeder). They got married and had a daughter, but the baby died shortly after birth, leaving the couple bankrupt. Unable to cope with the loss, Celia left the Man and moved to her parents' house. The Man then used his pain as inspiration to write the manuscript, which he sent to Celia in a briefcase, convincing her to return to him. However, she forgot the briefcase in the train after her trip back to Paris, and the manuscript was lost. Infuriated, the Man abandoned Celia. Upon hearing of this, Rory attempts to credit the Old Man for the novel, but the Old Man refuses, leaving Rory alone, forced to live with his mistake.

The public reading ends, and Danielle accompanies Hammond back to his apartment, where she pressures him into telling her how the story ends. Hammond confides with her that Rory told his wife the truth, and her disappointment was such that she left him. His attempts to give the Old Man proper credit were undone by Cutler, fearing that his reputation would be tarnished. Desperate, Rory sought the Old Man one last time, and the Old Man revealed that, years after he abandoned Celia, he spotted her in a train station as he was returning to America, having found another husband and had a daughter with him. The Old Man claims people always move on from their mistakes, as did Celia, and Rory will, too.

Danielle continues to preassure Hammond for more details, and he reveals that the Old Man died not long after, but Rory never moved on, and was tormented by nightmares until he focused his grief on another book, one that'd allow him to tell the true story of the manuscript. Rory titled the book The Words.

Danielle kisses Hammond, but he pulls away, fearing to move on. As he is forced to question himself and see if he is ready, he remembers Rory lying in Dora's arms as she tells him everything will be alright. It's left unclear if The Words is a semi-autobiographic book, with Rory being Hammond's surrogate.