Dreams of a Life

In 2006 a woman’s skeleton was found in a flat above Wood Green Shopping Centre, London. When the housing trust that owned the flat broke down the door and discovered her, they found the TV on, and the heating and lighting too. The woman, identified as Joyce Carol Vincent, had been dead for three years. Dreams of a Life is a quest to discover who Joyce Vincent was, and how she came to be so forgotten. Filmmaker Carol Morley (Edge, The Alcohol Years) set out to track down people who had known Joyce, and to piece together their recollections and versions of Joyce. Like a detective, Morley builds a multi-layered portrait of a woman who was attractive, lively and popular, but who also had an air of mystery, a secretive side. Using direct testimonies, dramatic reconstructions and glimpses of her own research, Morley draws us deep into Joyce’s world, albeit a world where some mysteries still remain. She also makes us think about what kind of society we live in, how someone could fall so completely out of view. This is a sad and intriguing story, told with imagination and care. –BFI