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Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

Documentary · 2017

Literary icon Joan Didion reflects on her remarkable career and personal struggles in this intimate documentary directed by her nephew, Griffin Dunne.

Movie details

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

2017 Documentary 1h 32m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.5 / 10

3.1K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

89 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

72 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.3 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Literary icon Joan Didion reflects on her remarkable career and personal struggles in this intimate documentary directed by her nephew, Griffin Dunne.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Griffin Dunne

Joan Didion

Joan Didion

Self

Griffin Dunne

Griffin Dunne

Self

Hilton Als

Hilton Als

Self

David Hare

David Hare

Self

P

Phyllis Rifield

Self

Amy Robinson

Amy Robinson

Self

S

Shelley Wanger

Self

Court is in session

Put Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Auteur Devotee

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.