''My Darling Vivian'' is a 2020 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about Vivian Liberto, the first wife of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

, directed by

Matt Riddlehoover Matt Riddlehoover (born July 26, 1985) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the 2020 documentary '' My Darling Vivian''. ''My Darling Vivian'' Riddlehoover produced, directed, and edited ''My Darling Vivian'', a biographical documenta ...

. The film premiered at the 2020

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Film Festival, presented by

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

, on April 27, 2020. It received acclaim from critics and audiences, and was chosen by ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' as a "must-see" critics' pick.

Premise

Director Matt Riddlehoover traces the romantic and dizzying journey of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash's first wife and the mother of his four daughters.

Appearances

Rosanne Cash Rosanne Cash (born May 24, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country musician Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Cash. Although Cash is often classified as a country artist, her music draws f ...

(Daughter) * Kathy Cash Tittle (Daughter) * Cindy Cash (Daughter) * Tara Cash Schwoebel (Daughter) * Vivian Liberto in archival recordings *

in archival recordings

Release

''My Darling Vivian'' was shown at many film festivals, including

, Northwestfest, the

RiverRun International Film Festival The RiverRun International Film Festival is an annual Oscar-qualifying film festival held each spring in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. The festival is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and presents a variety of feature-length and ...

Galway Film Fleadh The Galway Film Fleadh (; Irish for "festival") is an international film festival founded in 1989 as part of the Galway Arts Festival. Describing itself as Ireland’s leading film festival, the event is held every July in Galway city in Ire ...

, and the

Bentonville Film Festival The Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) is an American film festival held annually in Bentonville, Arkansas that focuses on diversity. Foundation Bentonville Film Festival was founded by actress Geena Davis and ARC Entertainment executive Trevor Drin ...

. It had a

virtual cinema Virtual cinema is a term referring to video-on-demand streaming services facilitated by independent film distributors and art-house theaters to release new films and to share profits. Under the service, part of the admission price supports a physi ...

release in US theaters on June 19, 2020, at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto on June 25, 2020, and at the VIFF Centre on June 26, 2020 in Vancouver.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of , and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''My Darling Vivian'' adds an overdue corrective to the public story of Johnny Cash's private life -- and a strong testament to the woman at its center." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Joe Leydon of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote: "An exceptional documentary... A fascinating and affecting corrective counterpoint to the Johnny Cash mythos." Sheri Linden of ''

'' wrote: "Brings a woman erased into vivid focus... an engaging and revelatory film that's also deeply affecting." On May 1, 2020, '' Thirteen Reasons Why'' author

Jay Asher Jay Asher (born September 30, 1975) is an American writer and novelist. He is best known for writing the bestselling 2007 book '' Thirteen Reasons Why''. Early life Asher was born in Arcadia, California, on September 30, 1975. He is half Jewish. ...

called the film "incredible" and "inspiring in its sadness" on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{Rotten Tomatoes, m/my_darling_vivian, My Darling Vivian 2020 films American documentary films Biographical documentary films Documentary films about children 2020 documentary films Cultural depictions of Johnny Cash 2020s English-language films 2020s American films English-language documentary films