I have just returned from Carol Morley’s soul destroying documentary ‘Dreams of a life‘ and felt compelled to review it, if only for the fact that I haven’t written in a while (and it’s directed by/about a woman – that makes it a feminist pop cultural topic right?)
Dreams of a life is about Joyce Vincent, a woman in her late 30s who died in 2003. Her body was found decomposing in her flat 3 years later, amid wrapped Christmas presents with the TV still on. The plot is compelling, why did no one notice? How on earth did it take 3 years to discover her body? The story becomes even more intriguing when you learn that she was in fact, a bubbly intelligent woman who met Nelson Mandela and dated Gill Scott Heron’s manager. Everyone who knew her was shocked that she died alone.
Given the rich subject matter (and my tendency to like gritty documentaries) I was a little disappointed by the film. The dramatization felt unnecessary, and detracted from the story – we didn’t need to see Joyce’s hypothetical last moments. Using an actor made Joyce Vincent seem even less like a real person, perhaps this was the intention of the director, but for me this did not sit right. It also seemed that Dreams of a Life was missing large chunks of information, and at times I felt that the film would have benefited from narration.
Perhaps there wasn’t enough material for a feature film, perhaps the haunting element of the film is that her story was not extraordinary enough. I accept that the very reason that this story is compelling is because it is essentially mysterious, and there was a lot to commend the film for. The interviews were fascinating, and Morely had obviously gone to great lengths to gather information about her subject which can’t have been easy – I just wish she had stuck to a more traditional documentary form and let the story speak for itself, rather than attempting to make it more cinematic.
Despite my criticisms, it is nonetheless a compelling documentary. The fact that people so close to her could have not known about her death forces you to think about all the people you have been close to, but no longer have regular contact with. It is a haunting film, which makes you want to get more information about Joyce – her life and death, I just wish more of that information had been in the film.
