Blurring Lines and Intersecting Realities in Barbara Kopple’s Fictional Work

In addition to Barbara Kopple’s recognized contributions to documentary filmmaking, she directed several fictional works for both television broadcast and theatrical release. Although she often refers to herself as a director of both non-fiction and fiction, since both are important to her, very little critical attention has been paid to her fictional work such as the television episodes she directed for Homicide: Life on the Street, the PBS production Keeping On (1983), based on a screenplay by Horton Foote, and the independent feature Havoc (2005). This chapter examines the ways that she uses documentary techniques associated with cinema verite to establish a sense of place, character, realism, and social engagement within fictional stories. Rather than see her fictional work as an addendum to her acclaimed documentaries, the chapter argues that there is a continuum in which dramatic form and documentary practice inform one another as part of her style and approach to filmmaking.