Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

DIrector Ricki Stern and co-director Anne Sundberg's film is an intimate portrait of American comedian Joan Rivers. Shot over a year when Rivers both staged an autobiographical play in London as well as appearing on America's Celebrity Apprentice, it also follows her gruelling schedule of one-night gigs. But the film also gets beneath the self-admittedly surgically altered skin of the comedian. She recalls how, when she left The Carson Show for her own on Fox, Johnny Carson never spoke to her again. She alse reveals how she felt when her husband Edgar, the show's manager, who had been stealing from her, committed suicide. Between the laughs emerges a portrait of a driven, successful woman - but one who cannot bear to be idle, because to be so would lead to unwanted self-examination.