THIS IS JOAN COLLINS
UK, 2022, 96 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Clare Beavan.
This entertainingly comprehensive portrait of actress and celebrity, Joan Collins, was released in the year that she turned 89. She collaborated with the venture, appearing continually throughout the film, discussions about lighting and positions, reading a text, at the microphone, commenting, and some wry expressions and smiles about what she was viewing.
The film is informative on several levels. It provides an overall sketch of Joan Collins’ family, early upbringing and influences, training, moved to films, to Hollywood, marriages and divorces, relationships, ups and downs of her career, her children, American television, returning to the stage.
It also provides an overview of her career, her hopes and ambitions, training, the move to film in Britain, the invitation to Hollywood, the seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox, her early films like Land of the Pharaohs, Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, MGM, The Opposite Sex, lesser films, comment on actor she worked with, fairly derogatory on Richard Burton and Sea Wife, the diminishing of her film career, and the beginning of relationships with actors like Warren Beatty and break ups, and her regret for turning down the role in Sons and Lovers. There were her lean years, in television shows like The Virginian, horror films in England and The Empire of the Ants. And, then, dynasty and their identifying with Alexis Carrington, her popularity in the media, magazine covers and articles, television interviews. There was also her relationship with her sister, Jackie, in the background of filming The Stud and The Beach. And some details of her career, television and stage work in the 21st-century.
The film is very personal also on her relationships, her husband’s. With scenes from Maxwell reads films, there is the ugly story of date rape, her disillusionment, the marriage at 17, his wanting to prostitute her to an Arab millionaire, the divorce proceedings and his demand for alimony. There follows the marriage with Anthony newly, his growing celebrity at the time, that children, his deceiving her, the divorce, amicable. There is the marriage to the entrepreneur, Ray, a child, an affluent life and the discovery that it was built on deceptions, especially in finance. There is the surprise of the marriage to Peter home, the Swedish singer, his on-screen charm, and the realities of his persona in the real life of the marriage. Finally, there is a long time marriage to Clark Gibson, Collins finally setting and settling down.
The other aspect of interest in the film is in its portrait of Hollywood film making and the Hollywood culture from the 1950s to the 1990s, the glamour of the studios and contracts, the failing of the studios, the way prim celebrities were promoted and exploited, the emergence of television and its popularity. There is the life of the 50s, exploitations by producers like Darrell Zanuck, and Collins meeting with Marilyn Munro and her conversations, the covering up of relationships and harassment. Then there is a mood of the swinging 60s, the difficulties of the 1970s, the transition to television and television movies and exploitation films. Then, the 80s, the popular television series, the rivalry between Dallas and dynasty, the emergence of dynasty over nine years and its place in American consciousness, Joan Collins herself liking the 1980s and reminding audiences that it was the green decade, with reference to Gordon gecko and Wall Street.
There is quite an amount of material to be considered here, not necessarily in-depth exploration of some audiences might want, but an interesting and entertaining overview in just over 90 minutes.
