Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

film by Dunne [2017]

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

July 21, 2026

Quick Summary

"Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold" is a 2017 documentary film directed by Griffin Dunne, exploring the life and work of his aunt, the acclaimed American novelist and essayist Joan Didion. The film delves into Didion's career, highlighting her lucid prose and incisive observations on social unrest and psychological fragmentation, characteristic of the New Journalism movement she was a part of. It touches upon her early works like Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album, which captured the essence of 1960s counterculture in California, as well as her later writings on politics and personal memoirs that explored grief after the loss of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter.12

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

2 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

Joan Didion
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
…moment in an interview for Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, a documentary directed by her nephew, actor Griffin Dunne. “Let me tell you, it was gold,” she said. “You live for moments like that, if you’re doing a piece. Good or bad.”
Read More
…moment in an interview for Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, a documentary directed by her nephew, actor Griffin Dunne. “Let me tell you, it was gold,” she said. “You live for moments like that, if you’re doing a piece. Good or bad.”
Read More