A 15-year-old's drastically wrong affair in all its grotty, messy, sexy, fixation-inducing glory.

Director Marielle Heller plays her Mister Rogers keynotes of understanding and acceptance as nice as pie.

To all intents, in 1991, 51-year-old Lee Israel is all washed up. With her glory days as a Manhattan celebrity profiler and biographer long behind her, she’s broke, jobless and alone.