The season has changed. The scent of pumpkin spice lattes is in the air and the leaves are falling, even here in Southern California. Move over, Brat Summer – it’s time for Nora Ephron Fall.

While the first was all mayhem and crop tops, Nora Ephron Fall, memorably portrayed in her most popular romantic comedies, is a decidedly adult affair. It’s quality turtlenecks and sweaters, buying decorative water bottles for an evening dinner, and pairing up for cuffing season, or even longer term.

“When we watch ‘When Harry Met Sally’ or ‘You’ve Got Mail,’ it distills that deep feeling of being in New York in the fall and that magical feeling that comes once a year, like Christmas,” he said. said Nora Ephron. at the movies,” says author Ilana Kaplan, invoking two iconic films that she groups together with “Sleepless in Seattle.” “We look for that feeling every year.”

“Nora Ephron at the movies”, by Ilana Kaplan.

(Abrams)

Ephron, who was raised in Los Angeles by screenwriter parents but made New York home as an adult, is known for films with humorous dialogue, complicated heroines and realistic elements of the city she loved. Manhattan’s Empire State Building notably plays a key role in “Sleepless in Seattle,” Ephron’s homage to “An Affair to Remember”; like “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail”, it stars Meg Ryan. (Rob Reiner directed “When Harry Met Sally” based on Ephron’s screenplay, while she wrote and directed the other two.)

“I feel like the women in his work were always messy and more complex and quite imperfect or as buttoned-up as the heroines of romantic comedies from Hollywood’s golden age,” Kaplan says. “This character study has continued in romantic comedies today.”

The genre had begun to fall out of fashion at the multiplex by the time Ephron died of cancer in 2012, but its ethos has endured in works such as 2015’s “Sleeping With Other People” and last year. “Anyone but you” featuring the palpable chemistry between stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, and this year’s romantic comedy “The Idea of ​​You,” starring Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway in the lead roles. Kaplan also praises “Sex and the City” for reprising the “When Harry Met Sally” Katz’s Deli orgasm scene – born from a collaboration between Ephron, his filmmakers, Ryan and his co-star Billy Crystal while directing the 1989 film — and accompanying the show’s frank conversations about sex, as well as the controversial Netflix series “Nobody wants that.”

But the author maintains that Hollywood could create more rom-coms that shake things up like Ephron’s films did. “There have been some, but not all of them have really nailed that formula,” Kaplan says, praising films that contain a similar element of humor or chemistry.

Ilana Kaplan, author of “Nora Ephron on Film.”

(Émilie Assiran)

Beyond romantic comedies, Kaplan’s book explores Ephron’s lesser-known films and screenplays, as well as his essays, the novel “Heartburn” and its film adaptation — one of Kaplan’s favorites — and the cultural impact of his work. Ephron received three Academy Award nominations for his screenplays, the first for “Silkwood,” followed by recognition for “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle.” “Julie & Julia,” his latest film, received an Oscar nomination for Meryl Streep’s performance as Julia Child.

Among the author’s surprises while researching Ephron’s work: her screenplay for the 1989 gangster comedy “Cookie,” directed by another pioneering director, Susan Seidelman, and her production credit for the cult film for teens “All I Wanna Do”, also known as “Strike! » or “The hairy bird”.

“You can be a fan of someone’s work without knowing the extent of it,” says Kaplan. “So it was really interesting for me to dig in and learn more about not only Nora’s story and life, but also her friendships, her relationships with people, her mentees.”

The journalist-turned-filmmaker “was actually quite complex, a bit like female heroines who weren’t necessarily endearing at first,” Kaplan explains. “She was the queen of romantic comedies, but I feel like if you read her work, she could be scathing and harsh and tough and critical. But it was these facets that made her convincing and attractive to people.

Kaplan particularly likes a scene near the end of “You’ve Got Mail.” Tom Hanks’ character Joe wonders why Ryan’s Kathleen won’t forgive him for putting his modest bookstore out of business, but she will forgive the guy she chatted with online – him too, unbeknownst to Kathleen – for standing him up. “Oh, how I wish you would,” said Joe.

“I get chills every time I hear that phrase,” Kaplan says.

The scene recalls a moment from “Sleepless in Seattle.” Rosie O’Donnell’s character tells Ryan’s Annie that she doesn’t want to be in love, she wants to be in love in a movie.

Preferably a Nora Ephron.