Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

Neither a conventional nor a critical biography, the PBS-aired American Masters documentary Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens—directed by the renowned photographer's sister, Barbara Leibovitz—celebrates an artist whose work spans four decades. Born October 2, 1949, Annie Leibovitz was an Air Force brat who “saw the world through the picture frame of the car window” during frequent family moves. In 1967, Leibovitz found herself studying art and photography in San Francisco at a propitious moment that signaled not only the birth of the counterculture and peace movement but also a little magazine called Rolling Stone. For the next 13 years, Leibovitz built a name for herself through celebrity portraits (many cover shots, including the iconic image of a naked John Lennon curled against Yoko Ono—a picture taken hours before Lennon was killed), candid band photos (including a tour with the Rolling Stones that set Leibovitz on a path toward drug addiction), and political press junkets with fellow staffer Hunter S. Thompson. In 1983, Leibovitz entered a second phase of her career, moving from RS to Vanity Fair, where she created a series of memorable images, including the famous cover of a nude and pregnant Demi Moore. Although she continues to be America's premier portrait photographer, Leibovitz returned to her photojournalistic roots in 1993 when she visited war-torn Sarajevo. Although the personal details of her life—her earlier drug addiction, three children, and relationship with the late writer/intellectual Susan Sontag—are very briefly sketched, the film does offer up a substantial sampling of Leibovitz's photos (at the time of filming, she was preparing the retrospective book Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990–2005). Interweaving archival footage and stills with on-location shoots featuring the cast of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (for Vogue) and George Clooney and Julia Roberts (for Vanity Fair), the documentary also interviews many who sing Leibovitz's praises, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Gloria Steinem, Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner, Patti Smith, Hillary Clinton, Bette Midler, Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, and Whoopi Goldberg (who appeared in the famous tub of milk shot—”cats followed me for weeks afterwards”). DVD extras include an hour's worth of bonus interview clips. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)