Would anyone miss you?

“Hauntingly unforgettable” – Screen

“Nothing has lingered in my mind like this” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“A compelling, compassionate mix, Dreams speaks volumes about the mysteries of other people’s lives” – Total Film

“This sobering cocktail of drama and documentary is at once engaging and enraging, enthralling and appalling…. Miraculously Dreams of a Life never feels like a preachy social drama, rather it inhabits that strange netherworld on the edge of wakefulness in which the sleep of reason brings forth monsters.” – Mark Kermode, Observer

“Gruesome though its starting point might sound Dreams of a Life is a wonderful exploration of life, longing and loss.” – Jason Solomons, Mail on Sunday

“A genuine piece of detective work… this sensitive, poetic film retains a singular power to move and disturb, while gracefully honouring a life worth far more than its ending would suggest.”  – Jenny McCartney, Sunday Times

“A potent, achingly sad film.” – Wendy Ide, The Times

“Carol Morley has given Joyce Vincent, in a bizarre, compelling way, a second life.” – Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

“The film itself shifts from sobering documentary to dignifying biopic, giving this strange, sad story a subtle avant garde flourish.” – Steve Rose, The Guardian Guide

 

Dreams of a Life is an imaginative and multilayered quest to go beyond the newspaper reports and solve the mystery of who thirty-eight year old Joyce Vincent was and why she lay undiscovered for three years after her death in one of the busiest parts of London.

Joyce Vincent died in her bedsit above Shopping City in Wood Green. Nobody noticed. Nearly three years later, her flat was forced into by authorities due to lack of rent payment. Her skeleton was found surrounded by Christmas presents that she was in the process of wrapping. Her television was still on.

Credits
Written and Directed by Carol Morley
Produced by Cairo Cannon, James Mitchell
Film Editor Chris Wyatt
Directors of Photography Mary Farbrother and Lynda Hall
Music by Barry Adamson
Costume Designer Leonie Prendergast
Production Designer Chris Richmond

With Zawe Ashton and Alix-Luka Cain

Film4 and UK Film Council present in association with Shoot for the Moon
With the participation of Bord Scannán na hÉireann / Irish Film Board
A Cannon and Morley Production with Soho Moon Pictures

DVD
You can purchase Dreams of a Life from Dogwoof in the UK, Strand Releasing in the US, Madman in Australia, and Amazon
The DVD special features include the Director Interview: Kevin Macdonald talks to Carol Morley, video diaries, and the short film I’m Not Here

Links
Official film site
Watch on Dogwoof TV
Download on iTunes
Buy the DVD
Article on Dreams of a Life by Carol Morley for The Observer
Interview with Carol Morley on BFI Live
International sales: eOne
Distributors: Dogwoof UK, Strand Releasing USA, Madman AU

Selected Screenings
BFI London Film Festival, UK
South By Southwest, USA
Sydney International Film Festival, Australia

Running time: 90 minutes, Format: DCP, Year: 2011