Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
This film is certified

- Contains brief moderate sex references and references to domestic abuse

Dreams of a Life
The power of kinship is explored in Carol Morley’s drama-documentary, drawn from real life and resonant with the way we live now.
Documentary 2011 91 mins
Director: Carol Morley
Overview
In 2006, the body of 38-year-old Joyce Vincent was found in her North London bedsit. Her death, from unknown causes, had gone undetected by neighbours, friends or family for nearly three years. Carol Morley’s captivating, insightful film traces Joyce's life and interviews those who knew her in a bid to understand why this popular woman died so alone.
Dreams of a Life is an imaginative, powerful, multilayered quest, and is not only a portrait of Joyce but a portrait of London in the eighties—the City, music, and race. It is a film about urban lives, contemporary life, and how, like Joyce, we are all different things to different people. It is about how little we may ever know each other, but nevertheless, how much we can love.

Accessibility
Related
Documentary

Why We Fight Why We Fight
Documentary 2004 99 mins Director: Eugene Jarecki
An unflinching and award-winning look at the anatomy of American war-making.

The Pearl Button The Pearl Button
Documentary 2015 82 mins Director: Patricio Guzmán
Patricio Guzmán’s lyrical, illuminating follow-up to Nostalgia for the Light explores the fateful role played by water in Chile’s tragic history.

Sound It Out Sound It Out
Documentary 2011 75 mins Director: Jeanie Finlay
Jeanie Finlay's elegaic account of the very last record shop in Teesside, UK.

The Great Hip Hop Hoax The Great Hip Hop Hoax
Documentary 2013 88 mins Director: Jeanie Finlay
The documentary that takes you inside the masterplan that convinced the whole music industry that two students from Dundee were the next big thing in Hip-Hop.

Orion: The Man Who Would Be King Orion: The Man Who Would Be King
Documentary 2015 86 mins Director: Jeanie Finlay
The rollercoaster rise and tragic fall of the mystery masked man with the voice of a legend.

Underage Underage
Documentary 1982 57 mins Director: Kim Longinotto
Racism, glue-sniffing, petty theft and promiscuity - Coventry teenagers at play.
The Camera is Ours: Britain's Women Documentary Makers

I'm British But... I'm British But...
Documentary 1989 29 mins Director: Gurinder Chadha
Britain beats to the sound of Bhangra and Bangla in Gurinder Chadha's debut film.

Rebel Dykes Rebel Dykes
Documentary 2021 91 mins Director: Harri Shanahan
A brilliant and refreshing story of UK post-punk dyke culture, told by those who lived it.

The Great Hip Hop Hoax The Great Hip Hop Hoax
Documentary 2013 88 mins Director: Jeanie Finlay
The documentary that takes you inside the masterplan that convinced the whole music industry that two students from Dundee were the next big thing in Hip-Hop.

Orion: The Man Who Would Be King Orion: The Man Who Would Be King
Documentary 2015 86 mins Director: Jeanie Finlay
The rollercoaster rise and tragic fall of the mystery masked man with the voice of a legend.

Sound It Out Sound It Out
Documentary 2011 75 mins Director: Jeanie Finlay
Jeanie Finlay's elegaic account of the very last record shop in Teesside, UK.

Shinjuku Boys Shinjuku Boys
Documentary 1995 54 mins Director: Kim Longinotto
Tender fly-on-the-wall documentary depicting the daily lives of three Japanese 'onnabe' who work as host in a Tokyo nightclub.
New

The Square The Square
Comedy 2017 151 mins Director: Ruben Östlund
From director Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure) comes a satire on the hypocrisy of the art world, starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West. Winner of the Palme d'Or.

Certified Copy Certified Copy
Drama 2009 106 mins Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami directs Juliette Binoche in a personal and playful drama about a day in the life of a French gallery owner and a British author.

La Mif La Mif
Drama 2021 110 mins Director: Fred Baillif
A raw, in-your-face drama that offers a glimpse of life within a residential care home for at-risk teenage girls.

John and the Hole John and the Hole
Drama 2021 103 mins Director: Pascual Sisto
A troubled teenager holds his family captive in this gripping psychological thriller starring Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Ehle as his parents.

Mr. Jones Mr. Jones
Drama 2019 119 mins Director: Agnieszka Holland
James Norton stars as Welsh journalist Gareth Jones whose 1930s visit to Soviet Ukraine uncovered the truth of Stalin’s state-sponsored famine and reputedly inspired George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The Ghoul The Ghoul
Thriller 2016 82 mins Director: Gareth Tunley
A British indie crime film of great style and ingenuity, executive produced by Ben Wheatley and starring Tom Meeten and Alice Lowe.