Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

Joan Didion was born in 1934, the same year as Gloria Steinham. They both intrigue me as women writers who earned a living as outsiders--reporters--investigating gender, class, community, and the seismic shifts of the larger cultural world from refreshingly different perspectives.

I confess I didn't know much about Didion's personal life--her famous in-laws, her famous friends--and the documentary flicks out photographs, interviews, and archival footage that are a delight to discover. The film gives you a peek into the intimate life of an intriguing person who worked hard to stay hidden, even though her books are so personal. There is a detachment she employed as a writer to report back to us. The documentary strips away some of the distance.

I found the interviews with Dunne fascinating. Her answers surprised me. I loved seeing how the thread of her life weaved through politics, subcultures, music, film, and her own family. And kudos to Griffin Dunne (and several members of her extended family) for putting this together right now. A reflection worthy of your time.

This film is a tribute to Ms. Didion, who was an amazing writer, and her writings were incredible that they were so easy to read and understand. Griffin Dunne does a fantastic job with this. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this film and how much it made me think and maybe tear up a bit. She was an amazing woman whose writings were concise and she was completely unafraid to relate the truth, no matter how unpleasant or downright ugly - or how painful. We have all lost loved ones, children sometimes and certainly spouses, and even innocence in the political and social systems - she really was able to convey the feelings - the reality of loosing major parts of your life and to still survive. This is a wonderful film, and encompasses more than just a tribute to a wonderful Aunt. She is an amazing person.

I really appreciated this film because of the extensive amount of archival research it took to put this together. Full disclosure: I was not a huge Didion fan, even less so familiar with her work. But this was a fun and enlightening journey delving into nearly every facet of Didion's career and personal life. Although captivating it became a tad bit too prosaic defined by the B story diversions that would have presented better in brief, this just being my humble opinion of course. If you're a Didion fan this is a must see, obviously.

I'm usually cautious around docs with a nepotistic bent to them from which you learn little in what basically turns out to be a valentine on the subject. Writer Director Nora Ephron's son did a hollow one on his mom while photog Annie Liebovitz's sister offered up a cringing love letter to her in American Masters. Maria Riva, daughter of Marlene Dietrich on the other hand has given a warts an all interview (available on You Tube) that cooked from start to finish that is well worth the watch for many reasons.

In Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, her nephew actor Griffin Dunne may have wanted to approach the 80 plus year old Didion gingerly but the feisty 75 pounder was not about to have it showing the same determination in getting the story right as she did nearly half a century ago chronicling the American scene, especially the West Coast. With an incredibly keen sense of observation she displayed a grasp of an era with a clarity and incite while fellow contemporaries such as Thompson, Mailer and Breslin relied on hyperbole and slap happy verbosity.

Brought up on gloom, Donner Party bed time stories, it never seemed to be far from the stoic Didion, questioning what love was regarding her author husband that she partnered with professionally as well. Her adopted daughter found her remote. It is perhaps this distance that made her a superb reporter, memoirist. Always observing, never immersing. When spouse and daughter pass her true love kicks in and she writes a masterpiece around the husband, a play around the daughter.

Director Dunne has superior entry and makes the most of old newsreels along with an avalanche of family photos to give the doc a fine look including impressive visual backdrops, such as snow draped NYC, to her words. We find out Warren Beatty had the hots for her but he does step gently around her emaciated ( anorexia?) look as well obvious MS symptoms. But when queried about a scene 50 years earlier of witnessing a 5 year old on LSD she bluntly calls it "gold." Classic JD, honest and objective to the core. A rare quality to be found in today's world of blatantly bias journalism.

Confession: until I watched this documentary, I had never heard of and obviously therefore, never read, any of Joan Didion's novels. So what attracted me to watch this when it was suggested to me on Netflix? Well, the era that it covered, the fact that it said she is a literary icon, and the fact that she is Griffin Dunne's aunt and that he directed it (big fan of Griffin Dunne). The style, grace and beauty of the subject also intrigued me. Having finished watching it, I then watched the trailer here on IMDB and I am so glad that I didn't see the trailer first as it gives everything away and, even though you might guess at a few things along the way, it would most definitely have lessened my enjoyment of the story unfolding at the pace that the director/writer/producer would have liked me to.

This is a beautifully crafted piece of work. It has a gentleness and fragility about it that makes you want to whisper for the rest of the day. It was such a delight to be able to really focus on this film without the sensationalised over the top music screaming at me in short bursts, that is so prevalent now in programming. Thank you so much Griffin Dunne.