Dreams of a Life (12A)
- Starring: Zawe Ashton, Jonathan Harden, Daren Elliot Holmes, Ki'juan Whitton
- Director: Carol Morley
- Duration: 90 mins
Would anyone miss you? Nobody noticed when Joyce Vicent died in her bedsit above a shopping mall in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, surrounded by Christmas presents she had been wrapping, and with the TV still on. Newspaper reports offered few details of her life -- not even a photograph. Interweaving interviews with imagined scenes from Joyce's life is not only a portrait of Joyce but a portrait on London in the eighties -- the city, music and race. It is a film about urban lives, contemporary life, and how, like Joyce, we are all different things to different people. It is about how little we may ever know each other, but nevertheless, how much we can love.
Reviews
Alison Rowat's Review
When the door to Joyce Vincent’s flat was broken down she had been dead for three years. Another shocking tale of the city, in this case London, but this one spoke to people’s worst fears of falling through the gaps, never to be seen again.
Documentary maker Carol Morley turned detective to trace Ms Vincent’s family and friends, carefully assembling a sensitive, intelligent portrait of a woman, 38 when she died, at various stages of her life.
Morley is a skilful interviewer, allowing her interviewees (among them The Herald’s Alison Campsie, who covered the story) time and space to convey their thoughts.
Aiding the picture immeasurably is Zawe Ashton’s thoughtful portrayal of Ms Vincent in the reconstructions.
A film to haunt you for all the right reasons.