Dreams of a life - By Carol Morley

Directed by  Carol Morley who read about the story in the newspaper, Dreams of a Life looks into the story of Joyce Vincent who was discovered dead in her apartment, three years after she had died, with the Television still on and half-wrapped Christmas presents around her.

Morley started a campaign to find out as much as she could about Joyce and discover how this could have happened, the documentary is thought provoking and pulls on the emotions of those watching.




Something that was different than most documentaries I've seen was the set up for the interviews, normally the interviewees are filmed in front of a location relevant to them, such as an office, their home or place of work.

However Morley filmed the interviewees at the same location with the same background, I am not too sure why she did this, whether it was make the audience focus more on what the person was saying or doing or whether she did not have the time or budget to travel to each person.




Morley explored the life of Joyce and possible reasons of her death, and the impact it had on those who knew her, she also explores the reasons why she was left undiscovered for so long.

There is also heavy use of recreation as throughout the film we watch Joyce (played by an actress) in her day to day life and in her final moments.

The film was similar to an investigation in fact Joyce's family said the Morley had done more than the private investigator that they had hired.

I liked the recreation part of the documentary and the significance of the story, I found that by having the recreation I could relate to and empathise with the character of Joyce more readily than if she was just a name on a screen.