1081
01:14:51,722 --> 01:14:54,375
they were loading her onto
the little cart there.
1082
01:14:54,475 --> 01:14:57,670
And she was telling the people,
the paramedics and such,
1083
01:14:57,770 --> 01:15:00,464
that she did not want to go,
she wanted to go home.
1084
01:15:00,564 --> 01:15:03,092
And they said that
she has to go with.
1085
01:15:03,192 --> 01:15:05,928
And she looked at me as if to say,
"Can you do something?"
1086
01:15:06,028 --> 01:15:07,805
But, ah, nothing I could do about it.
1087
01:15:07,905 --> 01:15:11,400
I asked the paramedics,
they said, "No, she has to go."
1088
01:15:14,995 --> 01:15:16,772
And then, but that was it.
1089
01:15:16,872 --> 01:15:19,449
I mean, they put her in the
ambulance and took her away.
1090
01:15:20,334 --> 01:15:22,903
And after the fact, a lot of
people in the neighbourhood said,
1091
01:15:23,003 --> 01:15:25,956
"Whatever happened to the old
lady?" and nobody ever knew.
1092
01:15:51,323 --> 01:15:56,186
You have to try to draw,
from the evidence you have,
1093
01:15:56,286 --> 01:15:59,072
some understanding of the individual.
1094
01:16:00,541 --> 01:16:04,278
I think her pictures
show a tenderness,
1095
01:16:04,378 --> 01:16:08,198
instant alertness to human tragedies
1096
01:16:08,298 --> 01:16:12,461
and those moments of
generosity and sweetness.
1097
01:16:13,429 --> 01:16:18,592
I see her as an incredibly watchful,
observant, caring person.
1098
01:16:19,435 --> 01:16:24,389
And probably why she was a nanny
was that she had those capacities.
1099
01:16:26,275 --> 01:16:29,853
CAROLE POHN: In 1962, when she
took a lot of the pictures...
1100
01:16:31,280 --> 01:16:33,774
the kids would always
play in the ravines.
1101
01:16:34,992 --> 01:16:37,444
It's the most beautiful
spot in the world.
1102
01:16:41,290 --> 01:16:44,735
You know, instead of this
straight-edged suburban community,
1103
01:16:44,835 --> 01:16:48,906
you always went there cos you wanted
the kids to have a little touch of nature.
1104
01:16:49,006 --> 01:16:51,742
You know, wild nature.
1105
01:16:51,842 --> 01:16:55,587
There was a patch of wild
strawberries somewhere in there.
1106
01:16:59,558 --> 01:17:03,095
And I think she liked it so much,
that's why they buried her there.
1107
01:17:05,564 --> 01:17:08,934
It's a place that they
remembered she was happy.
1108
01:17:11,069 --> 01:17:13,680
VIVIAN: Now, you tell me
how you can live forever.
1109
01:17:13,780 --> 01:17:16,183
- CHILD: Uh...
- VIVIAN: Come on.
1110
01:17:16,283 --> 01:17:19,728
JOEL MEYEROWITZ: She might have gotten
to the end of her life and thought,
1111
01:17:19,828 --> 01:17:23,990
"Why didn't I try to get
that work out there?"
1112
01:17:24,750 --> 01:17:27,486
Some people's character prevents them
1113
01:17:27,586 --> 01:17:32,874
from pushing that little bit you
need to push to get the work seen.
1114
01:17:33,592 --> 01:17:36,161
You know, she didn't defend
herself as an artist.
1115
01:17:36,261 --> 01:17:38,547
She just did the work.
1116
01:17:39,264 --> 01:17:41,425
A canon is often established.
1117
01:17:41,850 --> 01:17:43,460
And so, when someone comes in,
1118
01:17:43,560 --> 01:17:46,130
there's always the sense that
they're secondary figures.
1119
01:17:46,230 --> 01:17:49,258
But I don't feel her as secondary.
1120
01:17:49,358 --> 01:17:55,188
When I look at the pictures,
I always feel something primary.
1121
01:17:58,200 --> 01:18:02,938
I think that the work is so good that
it's really winning over a lot of people
1122
01:18:03,038 --> 01:18:06,316
who were...
were dismissive of it previously.
1123
01:18:06,416 --> 01:18:08,535
Where it'll wind up, who knows?
1124
01:18:10,045 --> 01:18:12,364
JOHN:
Much of the art world establishment
1125
01:18:12,464 --> 01:18:14,825
still hasn't accepted
Vivian Maier's work.
1126
01:18:14,925 --> 01:18:19,872
But people don't care. They're not waiting
for that validation from institutions.
1127
01:18:19,972 --> 01:18:23,425
They're claiming Vivian
Maier's work for themselves.
1128
01:18:25,185 --> 01:18:27,387
Her work is now in
galleries in New York.
1129
01:18:32,651 --> 01:18:35,645
It can be seen in LA.
1130
01:18:40,742 --> 01:18:42,853
One in particular that
I bought, which I love,
1131
01:18:42,953 --> 01:18:45,272
there's an abject
poverty in the frame,
1132
01:18:45,372 --> 01:18:48,366
but there's also a happiness
in spite of it all.
1133
01:18:50,794 --> 01:18:52,946
JOHN: Her work is being
seen around the world.
1134
01:18:53,046 --> 01:18:56,700
London, Germany, Denmark.
1135
01:18:56,800 --> 01:19:00,420
They're embracing it,
and they're embracing Vivian Maier.
1136
01:19:07,811 --> 01:19:09,721
WOMAN: Oui, oui, oui.
1137
01:19:42,346 --> 01:19:44,589
WOMAN: Oui, ca c'est sur.
1138
01:19:47,476 --> 01:19:50,128
JOE MATTHEWS: Maybe this
is the best way of all for her.
1139
01:19:50,228 --> 01:19:53,757
To have it happen after she's died.
1140
01:19:53,857 --> 01:19:55,759
That would probably
make Viv happiest.
1141
01:19:55,859 --> 01:20:00,438
Cos in her own life, the attention, I think
she would have found overwhelming.
1142
01:20:02,449 --> 01:20:04,434
Viv was supposed to be
downtrodden, right?
1143
01:20:04,534 --> 01:20:06,353
She was, like, a nanny.
1144
01:20:06,453 --> 01:20:10,399
That's not considered to be a pretty
high-ranking position in life.
1145
01:20:10,499 --> 01:20:12,442
Not married.
1146
01:20:12,542 --> 01:20:14,953
Not any social life to speak of.
1147
01:20:15,671 --> 01:20:20,117
She didn't have these
measures of status
1148
01:20:20,217 --> 01:20:22,460
that people aspire to.
1149
01:20:23,261 --> 01:20:25,839
But she didn't have to
compromise one bit.
1150
01:20:27,015 --> 01:20:28,750
She did what she wanted.
1151
01:20:28,850 --> 01:20:33,388
That's what she taught me, is that she
got the life she wanted. She had it.
1152
01:20:38,026 --> 01:20:41,021
JOHN:
I understand a lot more about her.
1153
01:20:44,157 --> 01:20:50,480
But why was this person so private,
1154
01:20:50,580 --> 01:20:55,327
yet so prolific in an artform
that she never shared?
1155
01:20:56,378 --> 01:20:58,405
Who knows?
1156
01:20:58,505 --> 01:21:00,824
She did it so it
wouldn't be forgotten.
1157
01:21:00,924 --> 01:21:03,209
And... and here, it's not forgotten.
1158
01:21:05,095 --> 01:21:06,955
As she was photographing,
1159
01:21:07,055 --> 01:21:11,501
she was seeing just how close you
can come into somebody's space,
1160
01:21:11,601 --> 01:21:13,086
and make a picture of them.
1161
01:21:13,186 --> 01:21:15,589
That tells me a lot about her.
1162
01:21:15,689 --> 01:21:19,593
It tells me that she could go into
a space with a total stranger
1163
01:21:19,693 --> 01:21:23,021
and get them to accommodate
her by being themselves,
1164
01:21:23,530 --> 01:21:27,392
and generate this kind of moment,
1165
01:21:27,492 --> 01:21:32,739
you know, where two presences were
actually kind of vibrating together.
1166
01:21:38,044 --> 01:21:40,413
And then she's gone.
1167
01:21:48,346 --> 01:21:51,083
VIVIAN: Well, I suppose nothing
is meant to last forever.
1168
01:21:51,183 --> 01:21:54,044
We have to make room for
other people. It's a wheel.
1169
01:21:54,144 --> 01:21:58,223
You get on, you have to go to the end,
and then somebody else takes your place.
1170
01:21:58,273 --> 01:22:02,102
And now I am going to close and
quickly run next door to do my work.
1170
01:22:03,305 --> 01:22:09,403