Diane Keaton: Unique Lives & Experiences
Diane Keaton, “Unique Lives & Experiences”
April 21, 2009, Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto
In today’s world of celebrity obsession, it’s becoming increasingly rare to get to know the real person behind the celebrity facade. With their every movement analyzed and exploited, celebrities are desperately trying to retain a part of themselves that hasn’t appeared on TMZ. However, Diane Keaton, in her talk for “Unique Lives & Experiences,” managed to invite her audience into her private world to gain a better understanding of who she is.
Diane Keaton has never been your average celebrity. Woody Allen called her acting a “nervous breakdown in slow motion.” Winning the Oscar for 1977’s Annie Hall, Diane Keaton has made a career out of playing slightly neurotic characters. However it was apparent early on that the evening would not centre around her famous roles. It would be more about the people and experiences that shaped her as a person.
Listening to hear speak, one gets the impression that Diane Keaton has become very comfortable in her own skin. But she admitted that she wasn’t always so secure. Keaton’s mother encouraged her to express her individuality through fashion, something that Diane was initially reluctant to do. Looking at the woman standing in front of me wearing a polka dotted skirt overtop of black tights, it was easy to see that her mother’s advice on that particular subject had stuck.
Keaton’s relationship with her mother, and the all too often unexamined relationship’s women have with their mother’s in general, was the theme of the evening. Keaton admitted that since her mother’s passing she has been going through her things to gain a better understanding of the woman who had such a profound effect on her life.
But her father’s impact was evident, too. Shortly before his death he told her that he wished he had done more in his life and hadn’t worked so long doing a job he didn’t like. While the words didn’t have an immediate effect on Keaton, they did stick with her. She has tried to become more fearless in her life. It seems to have worked. At an age when most women become empty nesters, Keaton adopted her daughter, Dexter, and then later a son, Duke. Showing off home movies of her young family, it’s easy to see that they, too, have made Diane Keaton more comfortable in her own skin. Luckily for us, comfortable enough to share her own unique lives and experiences with her adoring public.
