Dreams of a Life

2011

1h 35m

Drama

List

76%

29 Reviews

Tomatometer

65%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

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.

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Audience Member

This documentary will stay with you long after watching it. Its such a curious, strange, and sad story. I guess the only area not covered to enough detail for me was understanding her upbringing more and why her sisters were not part of the documentary. There seems to be far more to this story than is here. Nonetheless this is well worth watching.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

After reading the reviews, I debated watching this movie but ultimately chose to give it a viewing from the general fresh rating. Unfortunately, would not recommend, and hope this review helps anyone on the fence. An interesting premise, but the filled with mostly vacuous substance. Dreams of a Life juxtaposes how a charismatic and well-liked individual slid to the unnoticed fringe of society possibly through no intention of her own. The film likely aims to call into question the authenticity of relationships and the 'bystander' effect that can sometimes prevent us from solidifying true human connection. I appreciate some aspects of attempting to round out Joyce's character; in that we learn she was something of an opportunist constantly seeking validation and that her isolation may have been self-inflicted. But the film is fairly mean-spirited in people's recollections of Joyce, especially before the halfway to 2/3 point where the film really doubles down on trying to get you to sympathize. Ultimately, the film is a bit tonally wrecked by this contradiction, and we never really get a full and satisfying feeling of the morals Dreams tries to convey. The interviews with Joyce's friends seem to meander, and also interestingly frames the interviewers in an ignorant yet positive light, despite the inherent premise of the film. However, props for the re-enactments as I felt the acting (Ashton did a wonderful job) and cinematography were bang up and in my opinion weren't overly long or unnecessary.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Filled with interviews of old friends stating how much they and everyone around them "fancied" and "wanted to snog" Joyce. Leaving so many blanks and filled with far to much reenactment of the deceased woman's flat.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Chilling, haunting, compulsive viewing.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Truly heartbreaking. She was beautiful and talented and oh so alone. . .

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a very interesting documentary. It would have been so much better if her sisters would have spoken about her. This woman shut people out of her life for some reason. It's really sad cause she was probably real lonely. There is a chance her abusive boyfriend may have killed her. There is still a lot of mystery to this story and we will probably never know all the details. Only God knows everything.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

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Carol Morley

Director

Zawe Ashton

Actor

Jonathan Harden

Eddie

Daren Elliott Holmes

Bailiff

Jay Simpson

Lock Smith

Alix Luka-Cain

Young Joyce

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Tambay Obenson

Shadow and Act

Dreams Of A Life is an investigation into the life of one Joyce Vincent; but it's one of those cases that may never be completely solved, leaving the viewer in a positively comtemplative state.

Aug 14, 2017

Full Review

Stanley Kauffmann

The New Republic

Somewhere at the bottom of this story is an ache about the value of a life.

Jun 18, 2013

Full Review

David Thomson

The New Republic

Its holes or omissions cannot diminish the gaping eloquence of the situation and the questions that arise.

Jun 13, 2013

Full Review

Allen Almachar

The MacGuffin

The film examines just how precious every single life is, how closely we are connected to other people, and how important it is to never lose that connection.

Rated: B

Aug 3, 2020

Full Review

Orla Smith

Seventh Row

It's a film that causes you to reflect on your own life. If I died, how long would it take for me to be found? Who would come looking for me first? But it's also a reflection on the unknowability of other people.

Dec 4, 2019

Full Review

Emily Maskell

Screen Queens

Dreams of a Life is a poignant reflection on the value of relationships and the necessity of connection. [Carol] Morley presents a reminder that the smallest act of re-connection may turn out to have a much bigger effect.

Oct 7, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

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.

Director: Carol Morley
Producer: Katherine Butler, Tabitha Jackson, Alan Maher, André Singer, Paul McGowan
Screenwriter: Carol Morley
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 11, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.6K
Runtime: 1h 35m

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