Documentary Review: 'Flannery' Inside the Life of a Southern Gothic Legend

Part of the obsession many have with author Flannery O’Connor is in the way she mixes her Catholicism with wildly entertaining and often profane characters. O’Connor’s colorful characters leapt off the page and yet, there is a wholesome, southern quality to them that grounds those characters in a reality that is remarkably relatable for those familiar with the mid-20th century American south and endearingly quirky for us northerners.

The new documentary Flannery digs into the appeal and the conflict that marked the life of Flannery O’Connor. At once a devoted Catholic and a writer drawn to the kind of art that she’s not sure a Catholic God might appreciate. O’Connor’s style of Southern Gothic, her detailed characterizations, became iconic and are remembered by many who still sing her praises decades after her work first impacted the literary world.

Flannery is a stylish documentary that though it adheres to the classic documentary style of talking heads and to-the-camera interviews, still finds flourishes to set it apart. Co-directors Elizabeth Coffman and Mark Bosco make terrific use of the remarkable access they were given to endless archives of Flannery O’Connor’s private writings and still photographs captured by so many of the people who adored O’Connor as a writer and a friend.

For those unaware, Flannery O’Connor was born on March 25th in Savannah, Georgia. Early on in life, Flannery learned that drawing and writing short stories were talents she could make good use of. She wrote her way through High School in Savannah and college locally in Georgia where her work on the school newspaper caught attention from the Iowa Writers Workshop, a prestigious spot that birthed many of the greatest writers of all time.

It was at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop that Flannery O’Connor met a lifelong friend and fellow author Robert Lowell whom she would follow to Yaddo, another famed retreat for famous authors, poets and artists. Flannery is said to have been infatuated with Lowell but romance was never in the cards for O’Connor who developed an auto-immune disorder that made getting around difficult.

Eventually, Flannery would learn that she’d contracted Lupus, the same disease that had killed her father at a relatively young age. This diagnosis however, would not stop O’Connor who dedicated herself to her craft in the absence of a more typical social life. In 1952 O’Connor’s dedication would payoff with the success of her first novel, Wise Blood. Short stories however, would eventually become Flannery O’Connor’s bread and butter.

Stories about preachers, prophets and killers, all with a written form of a southern drawl became the well known milieu of Flannery O’Connor as her career went on and her health struggled to keep up. The documentary does well to show us that while her life could be tough and sheltered, O’Connor was a spirited woman who found her social outlet through letters where she carried on passionate and friendly conversations with fellow authors and everyday friends.

These conversations come to vivid and endearing light in the voiceover performed by actress Mary Steenburgen. The thick, almost comic, southern drawl that Steenburgen affects in giving life to Flannery O'Connor's letters to friends is just wonderful. The voice work has just the right amount of affection, good humor and taste needed to make it not come off as a cloying gimmick.

The unprecedented access these letters give to the makers of Flannery gives the documentary an insight that it would otherwise be deeply lacking. Sure, O’Connor’s unique themes and style could make up a whole other documentary but Flannery gathers it’s strengths from taking us deeper into the rich inner life of Flannery O’Connor, a life filled with contentment and longing in equal measure.

The makers of Flannery also use animation to help bring Flannery O'Connor back to life. The team of Kathleen Judge, Natalie Barahona and Heidi Kumao resurrect portions of Flannery O'Conner's life and writing via gorgeous animated segments enlivened by motion graphics by Mat Rappaport.

Flannery will be available via virtual cinemas on July 17th. To find out how you can see Flannery visit flanneryfilm.com/calendar.