MovieChat Forums > Finding Vivian Maier (2014) Discussion > Too Much Voyeurism

Too Much Voyeurism

posted 10 years ago by Notspartacus
9 replies | jump to latest

I walked out of the theater loving this movie. Then the feeling crept in, and eventually crowded out all of my enjoyment of it. From beginning to end, the movie is a blatant invasion of privacy. About as obviously as any person who ever existed, Vivian Maier would not have wanted any part of her life to be made public. They sheepishly address this without really dealing with it. And they cling tightly to the one piece of evidence that supports them, while dismissing the mountain of evidence that contradicts them.

* NOTE: If there was anything to refute what I'm saying, then maybe they should have put it in the movie. And if other information turns up after the fact that confirms the producers' hopes, it wouldn't excuse what they did in making this movie.

[–] chicago85 9 years ago

She had deep trust issues but he did find a letter to a man who ran a photography store in her mother's hometown. She had written a letter to him saying she wanted to know if he would be interested in printing and selling some of her photos. For some reason she apparently never sent it. Someone, maybe his son, read a translation to him since it was in English.

They had an exhibition of her village photos in the village in the French Alps. I noticed one very old woman helped by a daughter. She was looking at a picture of a man smoking a cigarette and looking relaxed. She said "my husband" and had never seen it. One of the locals said people there only made pictures at weddings and religious communions.

I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else

[–] peacefulsolutions 9 years ago

So you're going to cite a letter she wrote in private and never sent as a declaration of wanting to publish her work? haha. A very fitting way to justify one's own sentiments.

I agree with you op. I felt the same exact way. Museums (and my guess would be more reputable art dealers) won't touch her work... There's a reason for that, and it's called an invasion of privacy. I'm glad I got to see what I did, but that still doesn't make it right.

[–] Stirchley 8 years ago

The letter wasn't in English; it was written in French.

[–] safado 9 years ago

I don't know how yoy can invade the privacy of someone who is dead and had no close survivors. The work should be seen.

[–] MaryEunice 9 years ago

Most of her work was voyeurism. She invaded other people's privacy on daily basis, so...

[–] adamtash1 8 years ago

Exactly! I'm pretty sure she never asked even one person for a release form lol

and maybe that is part of the reason she kept herself obscure...at least part of it....

we live in such a non-private world now that I think viewers focus so much more on privacy issues than people in her day did....

I also got the feeling that she imagined possibly a scenario of how the actual documentary played out: maybe she knew, or anticipated,someone one day trying to "find her"...and that was the game all along?

[–] Molly-31 8 years ago

You have to remember that this was street photography. There was a time that a lot of people did it.

Privacy was not an issue. Permission was not an issue. And it still isn't. Photography is considered protected speech and the publication of street photos, including pictures of people, is considered creative expression and legal under the First Amendment.

Vivian's privacy is one thing, but the pictures she took of people -- not so much.

As to the claim that museums won't touch her work, go here for a list of her exhibitions worldwide.

http://www.vivianmaier.com/exhibitions-events/

Well, the city's being built and I'm winning this game. So don't interrupt us with trifles.

[–] cookiela2001 8 years ago

We do not live in a bubble; our life is SEEN by others in the smallest act of looking out our window, when we might be glimpsed.

It's arrogant to think our lives are off-bounds to the rest of society, to think we have the right to decree that the others who cross paths with us may not discuss us, or our actions.

This woman was a member of the human race, and the human race has a right to examine her.

.

[–] SpencersMomInPA 8 years ago

I tend to agree with you about the creeping feel of voyeurism. The first half of the movie felt so upbeat, a journey of discovery of Vivian's wonderful, varied photographs but the second part of it felt like it was designed to cut her down. From the "hoarding" to the allegations of child abuse, it just felt wrong and designed to tarnish what Maloof had built up as "brilliant, unknown Vivian" in the beginning.

It also feels wrong that he's now profiting off of her story AND her work...