In Life/Expectancy, the explicit reference to and recombination of various sources extends into the visual realm. The postmodern mode of Private Property is continued and expanded here: Fleming uses images and stills from well-known films (Intolerance, The Lady from Shanghai, Persona, Hiroshima Mon Amour) and the voices of famous Hollywood actresses as a “repository of stories in fragmented form.” The soft, tactile color palette found in Left Handed Memories, Private Property and Devotio Moderna gives way to an expressive black-and-white photography. Life/Expectancy is structured into chapters, each of which attempts to represent a different kind of storytelling.
“Life/Expectancy would be my last personal film… even as I continued to advocate for and teach the form.” (Shellie Fleming)
