Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work

The American comedienne Joan Rivers was born in 1933 and she's always been hard at work, but now it's 2009 and her career is in the doldrums. Her greatest fear is staring her in the face: an empty calendar. Director Ricki Stern follows Rivers over a year of deep lows, high points and a great deal of uncertainty. Rivers's forthright account hides huge insecurity – something that also seems to be at the root of her liberal use of plastic surgery. Her own story combines with that of her entourage and her only daughter Melissa to create a juicily funny and tragic portrayal of a remarkable, self-deprecating and hugely driven woman. It seems that big city theater performances are a thing of the past; "Kathy Griffin is taking all of those away," Rivers jokes. And following the umpteenth show in some small town, she can't help but be frustrated. "Forty years in the business and this is where I fucking end up?" But then she's invited onto Donald Trump's . She jumps for joy, because she would have been happy to wear a diaper for an incontinence ad. Anything for a bit of face time.