Public Speaking

Public Speaking is a documentary profile of the writer and social commentator Fran Lebowitz, built around her sharp wit and her observations on contemporary American life. Martin Scorsese directs the film, which unfolds largely through Lebowitz's own monologues, delivered at the Waverly Inn in New York, and is interwoven with archival material and interviews that place her views in the context of the city's cultural life. The film also draws on footage of figures from the worlds of art, music and literature, including Pablo Picasso, Pablo Casals, Thelonious Monk, James Baldwin and Serge Gainsbourg, whose appearances in the archival record sit alongside Lebowitz's own recollections.

The documentary was released in 2011 and runs 82 minutes. Scorsese directed it as his twenty-eighth feature in chronological order, between George Harrison: Living in the Material World and The Wolf of Wall Street. Lebowitz appears as herself, and she also produced the film alongside Scorsese and Margaret Bodde. On TMDB, it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from 64 votes, a modest but positive response from those who have seen it.