No Ordinary Joe

Dir. Barry JC Purves | United Kingdom

Inspired by the true story of a real-life British eccentric; Marion Barbara "Joe" Carstairs, millionaire powerboat racer, transatlantic sailor and the owner of Whale Cay in the Bahamas, was born in London in 1900.

No Ordinary Joe explores the most extraordinary, loving and lasting relationship between ‘Joe’, a colourfully defiant lesbian and 'Toddie', the young man who was the love of her life and just happened to be a dapper, little Steiff puppet.

Through this ebullient puppet, ‘Joe’ Carstairs gets to appreciate just what she has achieved, the friends she has loved and lost, and the impact she has had on the world. And that she certainly had a life stuffed full of adventure and incident, without conforming to any expectations of gender or sexuality. Above all, living life on her terms!

The film is set in a stylised bedroom towards the end of Joe’s life, mixing startlingly intense performances from Lindsay Duncan as ‘Joe’ with a stop-motion animated puppet, voiced by Ben Keaton.

Year: 2021

Runtime: 15:00

Language: English