Music, Style & Culture

Interview: Dreams Of A Life Director Carol Morley

The filmmaker on casting Zawe Ashton as the tragic Joyce Vincent in her extraordinary docudrama.

After premiering at the BFI London Film Festival, Carol Morley's unforgettable, haunting documentary Dreams of a Life opens on 16th December.

The filmmaker spent years researching one of the most tragic news stories of recent years. In 2006, bailiffs discovered Joyce Vincent's body in her London flat. The television and lights were still on, and it was established that Joyce's remains, surrounded by Christmas presents and wrapping paper, had lain undisturbed for a staggering three years, with no one reporting the 38-year-old missing. The newspapers had little information to go on, painting a bleak picture of a lonely, forgotten woman.

Moved by the story, Morley placed adverts looking for Joyce's family and friends. The resulting anecdotes proved Joyce was a much-loved, bright, beautiful and successful woman, albiet with personal issues. The film shows how terrifyingly easy it is for someone to slip through the cracks and lose contact with their loved ones.

Along with interviews with old flames and colleagues, Morley uses dramatisation to portray Joyce in sensitively shot sequences. Fresh Meat and Blitz star Zawe Ashton helps breathe life into quite an extraordinary woman, who schmoozed with soul stars and aspired to be a singer herself.

Dreams of a Life is a haunting, strangely hopeful elegy that gives Joyce the dignity she deserved after her tragic demise (the cause of which could not be established). Read our full review here, and an early interview with Ashton, where we first learned of the film.

We met with the friendly director (sister of Paul Morley, fact fans) in London for a chat about her astonishing film.

What were you doing career-wise when you first came across Joyce's story?
In about 2000 I made a film called The Alcohol Years, where I went back and re-traced my scurrilous life as a teenager in Manchester. I guess I'm sort of interested in the idea of women's identity - not in a really obvious way, but I was drawn to Joyce's story probably because what it said about women in the world now. I don't think I'd have done it if she had been a man - how weird is that? I was drawn to the connections I'd probably find. I'd come up making documentaries and short films, and Arts Council-funded films. I'd done a micro-budget feature that was a drama but worked a lot in documentary. But I'd suppose you'd say The Alcohol Years was closer to this in some ways, because it is almost resurrecting a person through the opinions and words of other people. It's memories and opinions about Joyce, and some of them conflict. I'm interested in making a documentary that doesn't iron out the contradictions, just looks at them. Maybe the audience has some space to get involved.

With The Alcohol Years so candid, you have taken a far more sensitive approach with Joyce's story.
It's weird isn't it, with all this Levenson Inquiry, and the extent people go to to get a story. What value is it to know about Charlotte Church's parents, other than a scurrilous insight. I felt with Joyce's story, it was very important to tell it, but she's not here to give her permission. But I did want to make it a film about consent. There were people I could've banged on their door and got a camera, but I did want it to be with people who wanted to be a part of the process. I did want to approach it in a sensitive way. At the time the press really wanted the story, and they didn't even get a photograph of Joyce. They wanted the story very quickly, within the week, while it was still newsworthy. So there's only so much you can do in a week. I think because of the way I did it, being interested in her life as opposed to her death, that was more important to me. The life isn't one you'd expect to end up that way. She represents being forgotten so strongly. Had she died then been found in a week, none of us would've heard of her. There's something about the length of time it took to find her that signifies the times we live in. For me it was important that at the end you felt it was an elegy, or a tribute. Not some, "oh look, how shocking" - but the story itself is so shocking. As I got to know the story, it became not someone over there it happened to, but it could be your friend, your sister, your mum, or you.

When did you realise you wanted dramatisation in the film?
I think when I read the story in The Sun, as there was no photo. I knew straight away I was going to make the film, and I sort of knew then. I imagined I would never find all of the people. Because of the television being on for three years, that image really stuck in my mind, so I always knew I would want to have that bedsit in the film, and the television would be a departure point, and I knew I would represent her in it. I obviously didn't know at the time what she looked like.

I believe it was Joyce's ex-boyfriend and close friend Martin Lister who showed you the first photo?
It was amazing. He had them in a bag, and said he bought photos, and you don't want to be rude and go can I look? I'd only just met him, and I had to get to know his story. He got them out, and it was amazing. He then went to the toilet and I was really looking at them.

It would've been quite a different film if Martin had not come forward.
Absolutely. Martin, in a way, is such an important figure, as he has the beginnings, middles and ends, as he knew her when she was 20, went out with her, and knew her towards the end. Weirdly, he was the very first person I met that went out with her. He was the very first person that contacted me. He found an internet ad, and he ended up being quite significant.



What was the one thing that surprised you the most as you began investigating?
There were different things on the way. First of all, the idea that she was beautiful, and you're like, oh wow, you don't expect things like this to happen to beautiful people. Also, the extent to which Joyce affected people very strongly. That was what was so ironic, because people talked about her being noticed all the time. They said she was very maternal and nurturing, so she wasn't self-obsessed and she really cared about people. Every step of the way you're re-shifting - someone who would die in those circumstances - who you would think they were. The the other piece, which I tried to avoid for a bit, came from Alistair, her ex-boyfriend. His brother had watched the Nelson Mandela concert on TV and spotted her in the crowd. I searched for ages, thinking I was just going on hearsay, and finding it was momentous for me. It was really good that people were willing to be in the film. The way the media has gone, I think people are quite suspicious. There could be concern that to be in the film... I could've done a voiceover saying "look at these people who are to blame" You don't know what might have been done. So I was pleasantly surprised that people were willing to participate.

It reveals a lot about the people she knew though, as there was so much emphasis on the way she looked, even from the women.
I think in some way, while making it, learning how immaculate she was made it haunting, because one, she completely disappeared, and two, did these images mask some deeper feelings that she was more in need than people felt. People look back differently, looking for the clues they didn't clock.

Can you tell me about working with Zawe?
We did a casting for Joyce, and quite a few people came to it. Because of how people described Joyce, they would say she could light up a room. I waiting for that person to just walk in and light it up without make-up or acting. It's something you have or you don't, and she walked in, and I thought - brilliant. She had that energy. We cast her and did things like... she never saw any of the interviews. I wanted her to come to it from within. I remember taking her to this massive room, and I'd blown up all the photographs of Joyce and laid them out. I had the timeline of Joyce's life. We went through the music that Joyce liked. She did her own work as well, where she'd get into the character. What great about Zawe is that she can do dark, and also have that lightness, so you can see how Joyce would've enthralled people. I think she looks amazing as well. And often, actors are acting with people, batting off someone, but she didn't have that. It was quite a lonely process. We did do physical things as well - she had the gap in her teeth filled, and her hair done.

Has anyone else come forward since the film premiered?
People came forward at the time who didn't want to be in it. We did screen it for the family before the London Film Festival. The story is still ongoing in a way, so I might interview one of the family. I did find the fiancé at the time, and I don't think anyone more significant than that. There have been people at screenings who were convinced they'd met her, and I think there'll be more of that once it's wider. We've got people writing on the discussion page on Facebook - someone worked with her and asked her what she was doing at the weekend, and she said life's too short for housework, life's too short for de-furring kettles. I liked that.

Joyce's family didn't want to be filmed - how did they react to the film?
Because they wanted to remain so private, I feel I should let that be. I know they did hire a private detective to try and find Joyce at one point. They went to the Salvation Army. They did think that she cut herself off from them. They really did love her, and they don't want people to think otherwise. I didn't want to demonise or blame anybody, because three years - it's just not a lot of time in adult life. It happens. I really think we don't belong to our families in that way, so it becomes a film about friendship.

What's next for you?
There are different stories I'm developing, but none to any great extent. I'm looking at a couple of book adaptations which I can't talk about as I haven't [ indicates signing]. There's one thing - I found an article from 1973, from a psychological, medical magazine, about a case of mass hysteria in a North London girls school. I'm looking at that, and I'm trying to find the girls involved. Again, it taps into female identity, in terms of female sexuality and adolescence. A lot of films don't really... there aren't a lot of female protagonists, and films don't look at how life affects women. With this film [Dreams] there aren't many films with a black female lead. I don't think there are any in Britain. So I'm looking at ideas that open up other areas for people to think about.

Watch the trailer for Dreams of a Life below: