I found this half docudrama film listed in the Radio Times, being broadcast on television, it sounded like an unbelievable real life story, and with it having good reviews from critics I was definitely up for it. Basically the film tells the story of British 38-year-old Joyce Vincent (played by Fresh Meat's Zawe Ashton in imagined reconstructions), a beautiful, popular woman who was nonetheless disconnected and lonely. Joyce died in her bedsit, in Wood Green, North London, in December 2003, her death went unnoticed, neither her family, friends or work colleagues were aware, her body was not discovered for three years, on January 25th 2006, surrounded by wrapped but undelivered Christmas presents. The neighbours assumed that the flat was unoccupied, the odour of decomposing body tissue was attributed to nearby waste bins, the flat's windows did not allow direct sight into the accommodation, and drug addicts frequented the area, this may explain why no one questioned the constant noise from the television, it was bailiffs that broke in to Joyce's flat and found her dead. Joyce's body was badly decomposed to conduct a full post-mortem, she was identified from dental records, the cause of death was believed to be caused by either an asthma attack or complications from a recent peptic ulcer. This film switches between constructed scenes of the last days and life of Joyce, and interviews of those who knew her, tracked down by investigating director Carol Morley, they describe her as beautiful, intelligent and socially active. During her life Joyce met figures such as Betty Wright, Gil Scott-Heron, Ben E. King and Nelson Mandela, she went to dinner with Stevie Wonder, and she was beginning a possible singing career, her song "Tell Me" is played in the end credits. Also starring Alix Luka-Cain as Young Joyce, Cornell John as Father and Neelam Bakshi as Mother. Ashton gives a believably subtle performance as the woman who many people who liked her but was nonetheless lonesome, the highlights are the imagined sequence of Joyce singing along to "My Smile is Just a Frown (Turned Upside Down)" by Carolyn Crawford, and the real Vincent's voice in the moving song at the end, we will never know what happened to Joyce Vincent and how she went undiscovered for so long, but this film is a haunting and sad but ultimately interesting drama- documentary. Good!
Review of Dreams of a Life
