I'm aware this wasn't on my list of things to watch from Monday but I discovered this on twitter a couple of nights ago - the story was completely unbelievable.
The film follows the story of Joyce Carol Vincent, whose remains were found in a bedsit in 2006, three years after she died, surrounded by wrapped Christmas presents with the TV still on. Nobody had noticed, nobody checked up on her and nobody missed her. When the newspapers reported the story, there was a noticeable lack of information about Joyce - no photograph and seemingly no previous life. How could someone, in the age of communication, slip through the cracks? This thought prompted Carol Morley to make a film, which coincidently refused to let Joyce be forgotten.
From a structural point of view, it's an interesting mix between a drama and a documentary. There are headshot interviews with people who knew her, or were involved in the case, and (mostly silent) dramatised reconstruction, with Zawe Ashton (Vod in Fresh Meat) as Joyce. This combines to form an extremely powerful, imaginative film, forcing you to think of Joyce as a very real person, not just a skeleton found on a sofa.
Carol Morley gathered the people who used to be Joyce's friends and revealed aspects about the circumstances of her death and other bits of information to them on screen. Many of the interview shots at the beginning of the film had a feeling of disbelief, as those who were once close to Joyce began to understand how her life changed in order for her to die alone. There were loads of little quirky bits like that - all of which made it a film I couldn't stop watching.
One aspect I liked was the image of Joyce's timeline. It had many of the landmark events, from close to 2003 (the year she died) and much further back. It was recurring, and zoomed in to show specific events, but was written in such a chaotic and disorderly way, it personified the story it was trying to tell. It painted an extremely tragic picture. Yet, she was not a drug addict, or an alcoholic. As a viewer, you can't help but wonder - would anyone miss you?
It was touching to listen to people talk about her. Morley had managed to track down a couple of Joyce's boyfriends, and one, named Martin, made me full-on sob. At the beginning of the film, he spoke fondly of her and shared some memories, but towards the end he was increasingly distressed, finally breaking down in the last few scenes. He couldn't understand why Joyce hadn't got in touch.
Through the dramatisation, and Zawe Ashton's brilliant performance, it is difficult to forget a person so vividly described and portrayed is no longer here. There are photos in the beginning of the film of Joyce, but they disappear as Zawe comes into the film, almost like Joyce is being resuscitated. Having spent an hour and a half watching a portrayal of Joyce, the moving footage of her at the end brings home the issue in such clarity. She looked full of life, surrounded by people and importantly, she looked happy.
This film is the product of amazing research - Morley spent years tracking down people linked to Joyce and the authorities that might have come into contact with her. She never offers a definitive version of Joyce's life and honours the idea that we can never really know what goes on in another person's life. The one problem was the very noticeable absence of testimony from Joyce's sisters, and we can only guess why they refused to comment. The film isn't suggesting that her lonely death is because of anyone in particular, and the blame never settles, but it does seem to touch on the opinion that she had withdrawn from her life for some reason, and consequently became difficult to find.
Many people argue that the unanswered questions that this film throws up about Joyce and her life makes it more frustrating than intriguing. I disagree. The obvious fact is that there is no right answer - there is no way of telling how Joyce actually died (skeletons aren't useful for that), nor can we read her mind posthumously. Clearly one of the points of the film is to provoke thought about how little we know one another, which would be difficult to achieve if we knew everything about Joyce. It also commemorates her, with the upmost sensitivity.
Overall, it's the best film I've seen in a very long time and I sincerely recommend you watch it. It's on 4od at the moment and it's also available on DVD.
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