AllMovie

In 2006, repossession agents broke down the door of an apartment in the North London neighborhood of Wood Green and made a shocking discovery -- the woman who lived there, Joyce Vincent, was dead. Even more remarkably, police investigators determined that Vincent had been lying dead in her flat for close to three years, with the lights on, the television running, and her unopened mail littering the floor. How did a seemingly healthy woman of 38 suddenly die in her apartment? More importantly, how could Vincent have been missing for three years without friends or neighbors taking note of it? Filmmaker Carol Morley became fascinated with Vincent's story and began an investigation of her own. The documentary Dreams of a Life is the product of Morley's efforts to reveal just who Joyce Vincent was, who her friends and family were, and how a beautiful and talented woman could so readily fall off the radar of the people closest to her. Dreams of a Life received its world premiere at the 2011 London Film Festival.