The Lost Tapes: new light on Elizabeth Taylor's struggle with love, controversy, self-perception

Director Nanette Burstein attempts to show Taylor's side of the story through her documentary, ‘Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes’.

It's based on over 40 hours of interviews Taylor gave American journalist and magazine writer, Richard Meryman, for a magazine profile as well as her 1965 memoir.

The tapes, from 1964, that showed the public Elizabeth Taylor’s perspective were the same tapes that were collecting dust in Meryman’s attic till his wife uncovered the tapes after Meryman’s death and so the re-telling of Taylor’s story began.

Burstein talks about how fast the actress had to grow up as she was a child actor, she was forced to act like a sophisticated woman when in reality she was still a scared teenager. According to Taylor, there are two versions of her, one the person her family knows, and the other where she's seen as a commodity. Often treated as just a pretty face, Taylor always had a ear listening to the public as she was concerned with how they viewed her.

The film is seen as a chance for Elizabeth Taylor to give her side of the story even if it was from beyond the grave.

Burstein’s documentaries are always one that blurs public narrative of women and centers more around the actual woman. Popular examples are documentaries like ‘Hillary’ and ‘The Price of Gold’.