Dreams of a Life (Film)
We live, we are told, in an increasingly fragmented society.
Conservatives in particular mourn the loss of a sense of community which has accompanied
greater mobility. The press, even as it decries the all-pervading, omnipotent nanny
state, also speaks of people ‘slipping through the cracks’ when the same state,
suddenly fallible, overlooks an individual. In politics, the response of the Right
has been to call for a big society to emerge to pave over the gaps left by the
state, while the Left briefly had a parallel movement in Blue Labour.
Dreams of a Life, directed by Carol Morley, proves that it
is still possible to die, even in one of the biggest cities in the world,
without anyone noticing for three years. Through fascinating
interviews with friends, acquaintances and some of those who dealt with the deferred
aftermath of her death, through documents, photos, audio and video footage and
through reënactments featuring Zawe Ashton, Morley
reconstructs, in an eerie but moving way, the life of Joyce Vincent. Joyce died
in December 2003 aged 38 in her small flat in Wood Green, North London,
surrounded by Christmas presents, but apparently was not missed by anyone. Her
remains were not discovered until 2006 when bailiffs forced their way in.
Critics, even those less impressed by the artistic merit of the film, were unanimously deeply affected by its subject matter. Some also
drew from it certain conclusions about the society we live in. Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian felt that it raised questions about the welfare state. Londoners
live in a “non-community where no one care[s]”, an “emotional wasteland.”
Anthony Quinn in the Independent writes of an “atomised society”. The
impression given is that such a scenario as this could not have arisen in the
golden age of the cohesive community where everyone knew who every child’s
parents were.
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| All the lonely people, where do they all come from? |
But there have been lonely people for a long time. Eleonor
Rigby was accompanied by a whole cast of recluses and outsiders way back in the 1966 song, and there have been all manner of loners and hermits throughout history,
many of whom must have died alone and undiscovered. We know little about most
of them because they left behind few records. The difference in Joyce’s case is that by the end of the film we know a great deal about her life, even if her
death remains a mystery. Video surveillance, official record-keeping, social
media and facebook mean that it is now difficult to
disappear into the past without leaving a trail which can be followed in the
future.
This film is memorable mainly for the poignant interviews,
celebratory and sad, the dwelling sense of amazement that such a beautiful,
sociable person could fail to be missed for so long, and the abiding, tantalising
but unanswerable questions it raises about the secret side of Joyce’s life. To these questions (who were the Christmas presents for?), we desperately want to know the elusive answers. But it is in some strange way reassuring
that despite social networks, 24 hour surveillance, the so-called ‘nanny state’
and the best efforts of determined documentary film makers, we will never know.
Reviews of Dreams of a Life:
Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian
Anthony Quinn, the Independent
Tim Robey, the Telegraph
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