Carol Morley

Directing

Carol Morley

Born 1966-01-14 · Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, UK

Carol Anne Morley (born 14 January 1966) is an English film director, screenwriter and producer. She is best known for her semi-documentary Dreams of a Life, released in 2011, about Joyce Carol Vincent, who died in her North London bedsit in 2003, but was not discovered until 2006. Her older brother is the music journalist, critic and producer Paul Morley.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Out of Blue poster
5.1

Mike Hoolihan is an unconventional New Orleans cop investigating the murder of renowned astrophysicist Jennifer Rockwell, a black hole expert found shot to death in her observatory. As Mike tumbles down the rabbit hole of the disturbing, labyrinthine case, she finds herself grappling with increasingly existential questions of quantum mechanics, parallel universes, and exploding stars. The hunt for a killer draws a detective into an even larger mystery: the nature of the universe itself.

Out of Blue

2019

Out of Blue poster
5.1

Mike Hoolihan is an unconventional New Orleans cop investigating the murder of renowned astrophysicist Jennifer Rockwell, a black hole expert found shot to death in her observatory. As Mike tumbles down the rabbit hole of the disturbing, labyrinthine case, she finds herself grappling with increasingly existential questions of quantum mechanics, parallel universes, and exploding stars. The hunt for a killer draws a detective into an even larger mystery: the nature of the universe itself.

Out of Blue

2019

The Falling poster
5.1

England, 1969. The fascinating Abbie and the troubled Lydia are great friends. After an unexpected tragedy occurs in the strict girls' school they attend, a mysterious epidemic of fainting breaks out that threatens the mental sanity and beliefs of the tormented people involved, both teachers and students.

The Falling

2015

The Falling poster
5.1

England, 1969. The fascinating Abbie and the troubled Lydia are great friends. After an unexpected tragedy occurs in the strict girls' school they attend, a mysterious epidemic of fainting breaks out that threatens the mental sanity and beliefs of the tormented people involved, both teachers and students.

The Falling

2015

Girl poster
5.0

Carol Morley's debut short uses the iconography of the genre of melodrama – the staircase, the father – to explore the story of a girl's relationship with her father, and the impossibility of recreating a time, a place, and a memory. Cross-cutting between the girl protagonist and her father, the film creates a sense of crisis and conflict. As the girl invests her feelings in her surroundings and describes events connected to her father, we are drawn into a world of pain and pathos. Morley's first directorial credit was her graduation film from Central St. Martin's School of Art.

Girl

1993

Girl poster
5.0

Carol Morley's debut short uses the iconography of the genre of melodrama – the staircase, the father – to explore the story of a girl's relationship with her father, and the impossibility of recreating a time, a place, and a memory. Cross-cutting between the girl protagonist and her father, the film creates a sense of crisis and conflict. As the girl invests her feelings in her surroundings and describes events connected to her father, we are drawn into a world of pain and pathos. Morley's first directorial credit was her graduation film from Central St. Martin's School of Art.

Girl

1993

Dreams of a Life poster
6.5

A filmmaker sets out to discover the life of Joyce Vincent, who died in her bedsit in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, and newspaper reports offered few details of her life - not even a photograph.

Dreams of a Life

2011

Dreams of a Life poster
6.5

A filmmaker sets out to discover the life of Joyce Vincent, who died in her bedsit in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, and newspaper reports offered few details of her life - not even a photograph.

Dreams of a Life

2011

Typist Artist Pirate King poster
6.4

In a last-ditch mission to get recognition for her talent, Audrey Amiss (Monica Dolan) persuades her psychiatric nurse, Sandra Panza (Kelly Macdonald) to take her on a road trip back to where her story began – but with so many deviations along the way, will they ever make it?

Typist Artist Pirate King

2023

Typist Artist Pirate King poster
6.4

In a last-ditch mission to get recognition for her talent, Audrey Amiss (Monica Dolan) persuades her psychiatric nurse, Sandra Panza (Kelly Macdonald) to take her on a road trip back to where her story began – but with so many deviations along the way, will they ever make it?

Typist Artist Pirate King

2023

No artwork available
NR

After her father's suicide in 1977, 11-year-old Ann struggles with grief, alcoholism, and promiscuity. Exploring her sexuality and self-destruction, she finds solace in art, overcomes family secrets, and achieves acclaim as a filmmaker.

7 Miles Out

No artwork available
NR

After her father's suicide in 1977, 11-year-old Ann struggles with grief, alcoholism, and promiscuity. Exploring her sexuality and self-destruction, she finds solace in art, overcomes family secrets, and achieves acclaim as a filmmaker.

7 Miles Out

Edge poster
6.0

Six troubled strangers arrive at a hotel located on the south coast cliffs of Dover. Looking for something, or looking to lose themselves entirely, the guests spend time together in the cold, isolated setting. As tentative connections form, they begin to uncover a shared purpose that unites them.

Edge

2010

Edge poster
6.0

Six troubled strangers arrive at a hotel located on the south coast cliffs of Dover. Looking for something, or looking to lose themselves entirely, the guests spend time together in the cold, isolated setting. As tentative connections form, they begin to uncover a shared purpose that unites them.

Edge

2010

Everyday Something: True Stories from the 21st Century poster
7.0

Based on the filmmaker's collection of newspaper cuttings the film presents private moments that give strange glimpses into everyday life.

Everyday Something: True Stories from the 21st Century

2001

Everyday Something: True Stories from the 21st Century poster
7.0

Based on the filmmaker's collection of newspaper cuttings the film presents private moments that give strange glimpses into everyday life.

Everyday Something: True Stories from the 21st Century

2001

The Fear of Trilogy poster
NR

Maxine Peake stars in a short film about three fears (birds, falling, sleepwalking) - filmed and edited in a single day on a mobile phone for Cinema Now, a digital conference held at BAFTA.

The Fear of Trilogy

2006

The Fear of Trilogy poster
NR

Maxine Peake stars in a short film about three fears (birds, falling, sleepwalking) - filmed and edited in a single day on a mobile phone for Cinema Now, a digital conference held at BAFTA.

The Fear of Trilogy

2006

The Alcohol Years poster
7.3

Carol Morley returns to Manchester, where in the early 1980s, five years of her life were lost in an alcoholic blur. The Alcohol Years is a poetic retrieval of that time, in which rediscovered friends and acquaintances recount tales of her drunken and promiscuous behavior. In Morley’s search for her lost self, conflicting memories and viewpoints weave in and out, revealing a portrait of the city, its pop culture, and the people who lived it.

The Alcohol Years

2000

The Alcohol Years poster
7.3

Carol Morley returns to Manchester, where in the early 1980s, five years of her life were lost in an alcoholic blur. The Alcohol Years is a poetic retrieval of that time, in which rediscovered friends and acquaintances recount tales of her drunken and promiscuous behavior. In Morley’s search for her lost self, conflicting memories and viewpoints weave in and out, revealing a portrait of the city, its pop culture, and the people who lived it.

The Alcohol Years

2000

No artwork available
6.5

In the middle ages there was an outbreak of dancing manias in Europe that lasted hundreds of years. In the 20th century thousands of Chinese men and some women thought that their genitalia were vanishing, while schoolgirls in Belgium thought that they were being poisoned by a certain brand of fizzy drink. Looking at these various cases, and more, the professor (Maxine Peake) takes us on a musical journey through mass hysteria.

The Madness of the Dance

2006

Stalin My Neighbour poster
9.0

Annie wants to find her cat and forget her past. She walks the streets of the East End of London, in the footsteps of Josef Stalin and Mahatma Gandhi. Annie's obsessive journey through local history triggers an unravelling of her own life.

Stalin My Neighbour

2004

Stalin My Neighbour poster
9.0

Annie wants to find her cat and forget her past. She walks the streets of the East End of London, in the footsteps of Josef Stalin and Mahatma Gandhi. Annie's obsessive journey through local history triggers an unravelling of her own life.

Stalin My Neighbour

2004

The Week Elvis Died poster
NR

Set in England in 1977, The Week Elvis Died is an evocative and bittersweet look at life from a child's point of view. Karen (Jennifer Williams) aged 10 is bullied at school by Julie and her gang. Her dysfunctional family can't help her and she doesn't confide in them. All she has for comfort are her descant recorder, her pet rabbit Elvis and her adoration of top disc jockey Tony Blackburn.

The Week Elvis Died

1997