Movie Review: Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Griffin Dunne.

 

It’s always a double edged sword when a family member makes a documentary about one of their famous relatives. On one hand, the subject is less likely to have their guard up, more willing to share, to delve deep into their lives, and reveal things they may not be willing to do to a stranger. The downside is that often, it results in a fairly one dimensional, glowing portrait, instead of something deeper – something that can both enlighten the subject, and challenge them if and when it’s needed. Luckily for us, the new documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold is more of the former than the later. The film is directed by Griffin Dunne, Didion’s nephew and it’s clear from the beginning of the film that the pair have an easy friendship with each other – they’re able to poke and prod at each other in a fun way. While it’s certainly true that the documentary is probably going to be better for the uninitiated to Didion – or, like me, know some but not nearly all of her work, than for her diehard fans, the film should inspire anyone who watches the film to go and track down some of Didion’s massive body of work.

 

The film takes a fairly basic approach to its subject – basically letting Didion narrate her life, from the time she graduated college, and moved to New York from California to write for Vogue. While in New York, she meets and marries John Gregory Dunne – a temperamental writer, who will be Didion partner in pretty much every way for the rest of his life. It wasn’t always easy – both of them documented their marital troubles in their work – but they stuck it out just the same. They were each and others “best reader” – and even though they were very different writers, they sometimes collaborated, and always edited each other’s work.

 

By its design, the film pretty much has to skim the surface of Didion’s massive body of work over the course of more than 50 years. Once the couple returned to California, Didion documented the hippie culture out there – puncturing holes in the romanticism and self-righteousness of the movement even before the whole thing came crashing down with the Manson murders. Throughout the 1970s, she wrote novels, and screenplays – the later helping to bring in money to keep on doing her other writing. She eventually turned to politics, and once again, did more great work. After the twin tragedies of losing her husband and daughter within a couple of years, she poured out her grief into more work.

 

The film has a lot of great footage of Didion, and company, during their glory years. The heart of the film though may well be the current day interview. Didion is now in her 80s, frail and thin, and yet still lively – she speaks with her hands, with insight into her own life and work.

 

The film is hardly revolutuionary – in terms of its filmmaking, its fairly standard issue doc stuff, done well, but not exactly stylish. Yet, because the subject matter is so engaging, it hardly matters. The film makes clear that Didion and her work could probably support several documentaries – in particular, a deep dive into her work in the 1960s and 1970s would be great. But if Dunne’s purpose here is to either introduce or re-introduce Joan Didion to audiences, than he has succeeded. The only question now is which one of Didion’s books do I track down first?