Dreams of a Life (2012)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 7
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 2,245
My Rating
Movie Info
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
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Cast
-
Zawe Ashton
Joyce, Joyce Vincent -
Alix Luka-Cain
Young Joyce -
Neelam Bakshi
Mother -
Cornell John
Father -
Kelly Agbowu
Sister -
Frances Cooper
Sister -
Nadia Di Mambro
Sister -
Sophia Leonie
Sister -
Darren Elliot Holme
Bailiff -
Diveen Henry
Housing Officer -
Jay Simpson
Caretaker -
Joanna Brookes
Cleaner -
Jonathan Harden
Cleaner, Eddie -
Angela Sims
Cleaner -
K'Juan Whitton
Young Boy -
Robert Cawsey
Strippogram -
Lee Colley
Studio Engineer -
Tom Nearney
Musician -
Michael Anthony
Dancer -
Alex Gatehouse
Dancer -
Sam Wardroper
Dancer -
David Ajao
Dancer -
Adam Bernard
Dancer -
Darren Davidson
Dancer -
Pearl Smith
Woman in Pub -
Polly Kemp
Refuge Worker -
Sarah Dulley
Nurse -
Daren Elliot Holmes
Bailiff -
Ki'juan Whitton
Kyle
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All Critics (21) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (7)
For all its subtext about identity and London's social fabric, "Dreams of a Life" leaves too many blanks and is ultimately more frustrating than rewarding.
Top CriticA riveting tale of a onetime vivacious personality, described by those who knew her as "stunning," "lovely," and "very well liked," but who nevertheless died alone, friendless and seemingly missed by nobody.
Director Morley has at least restored something of a soul to her subject.
Left with barely any there there, Morley compensates with long reenactments starring look-alike Zawe Ashton that are never quite convincing but instead suck more air out of the haunting vacuum left behind in Vincent's wake.
Morley's film is a mirror. How much do we know ourselves? How much do others know us? It works on the ego as much as it works on our empathy.
Disappointing documentary-fiction hybrid on the true story of a woman found dead and alone in an apartment three years after her demise. A pile-up of unanswered questions and unidentified witnesses frustrates more than it intrigues.
Dreams of a Life unintentionally amounts to a mean-spirited snooze.
Dreams of a Life succeeds in making its point about the unkowability of the people in our lives, but there isn't quite enough substance here to fully sustain the film.
Stunningly perplexing ... while it does leave you terribly bummed out in the end, it also leaves you with a whole lot of questions.
It's a fascinating film, skilfully assembled, and one is inevitably reminded of Citizen Kane and Rashomon...
What results is an impressionistic study of how the big city can envelope a person until there is almost nothing left except what bits and pieces acquaintances can remember.
It is necessarily incomplete but still constructs a haunting portrait of a woman who deserved a better life and death.
Makes for queazy viewing.
She may have been forgotten in life, but Joyce Vincent will haunt anyone who watches this astonishing film.
The problem - and it's a glaring one - is that Morley imposes a creative stamp on the material that keeps getting in the way.
It isn't just the mystery that mesmerises, it is the misery or the apprehension of it: the sense of some untold, secret pain that had been Vincent's constant companion.
Watching it is an almost claustrophobic experience, but a very powerful and moving one.
Hard to recall a film that lodges in the memory quite like this. Unmissable.
Impressively assembled and exhaustively researched, this is a grimly fascinating, deeply upsetting documentary-slash-mystery that raises some uncomfortable questions.
Morley's documentary is as much about our own fears and conditions of connection, as it is about a woman who slipped from sight.
Audience Reviews for Dreams of a Life
Super Reviewer
A filmmaker sets out to discover the life of Joyce Vincent, who died in her bedsit in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, and newspaper reports offered few details of her life - not even a photograph.
REVIEW
I remember learning about the discovery of Joyce Vincent's body a few years ago and thinking what a sad and disturbing news story it was, almost beggaring belief in present day civilised society. This superbly and sensitively crafted drama documentary from Carol Morley answers a mere handful of the many questions which inevitably followed while inevitably producing a myriad of others. It is a salutary reminder that life is both precious and mysterious, things are often not what they seem and how we all think we know our friends but in reality our comprehension is limited to what we are actually permitted to see and understand.
The most refreshing and at the same time most disturbing impression given is that Joyce's friends appear to be genuine, caring people but despite this, she still slipped through the emotional and physical net which binds humanity together. The power of this film makes the loss almost as tangible to the audience as it must have felt to Martin. It reminds us that although time is often regarded as a great unhurried and invisible healer, it can also be corrosively destructive.
Super Reviewer
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Latest News on Dreams of a Life
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