Hartley achieved his greatest commercial and critical success with his next feature , '' Henry Fool '' ( 1997 ) , a darkly comic drama about a near-catatonic garbageman , Simon Grim ( James Urbaniak ) , and his sister Fay ( Parker Posey ) , who meet Henry Fool ( Thomas Jay Ryan ) , a libertine and aspiring novelist who inspires Simon to write and seduces Fay and her depressed mother ( Maria Porter ) . Simon 's literary output , an epic poem written in blank verse , becomes a national sensation , winning acclaim and controversy for its pornographic content . Simon eventually becomes a literary celebrity , winning the Nobel Prize for Literature . While Henry 's writing career fades , he is coerced into marrying Fay , whom he has gotten pregnant , and abandons writing and takes Simon 's old job as a garbageman to support his family . The film garnered positive reviews and was entered into competition at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival , where Hartley won the Best Screenplay Award
1998 Cannes Film Festival
1998 Cannes Film Festival
Hal Hartley