Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work at IFC

Joan Rivers wasn't always a punchline. The first lady of plastic surgery and the terror of the red carpet was once a Barnard grad trying to make it in show business. Fifty years later, that much hasn't changed. A Piece of Work follows her as she debuts a play in Edinburgh and London, competes with her daughter on Celebrity Apprentice, does her act in Wisconsin and the Bronx (at 4.30 pm, but still hilarious), and tries to scrounge for more work. In part, the commercials, jewelry lines, book signings, appearances, etc., etc. let her maintain an extremely lavish lifestyle (in the Q&A after Saturday's screening, the filmmakers describe Rivers as "eating M&Ms and living like Marie Antoinette . . . a blend of high and low"), but they also speak to her --- and any performer's --- deep need to be adored.

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