Variety very perceptively said (as they often do), “Few films have presented the notion of self-performance as perceptively or provocatively as Robert Greene's extraordinary ACTRESS…” – a documentary that begs definition. Is it a documentary, or is it fiction? And how much of our lives is a very clever mix of both?

It follows actor and mother Brandy Burre, but there’s also the woman known as “Brandy Burre” to discover - a distinction that becomes increasingly muddled throughout the course of the documentary

Variety very perceptively said (as they often do), “Few films have presented the notion of self-performance as perceptively or provocatively as Robert Greene's extraordinary ACTRESS…” – a documentary that begs definition. Is it a documentary, or is it fiction? And how much of our lives is a very clever mix of both?

It follows actor and mother Brandy Burre, but there’s also the woman known as “Brandy Burre” to discover - a distinction that becomes increasingly muddled throughout the course of the documentary.

The ever-so-slightly familiar Burre is an American actor who is probably best known for having a recurring role on the cult HBO drama “The Wire.” For those of you who watched it  - and many did – she played political consultant Theresa D’Agostino, sexy old flame and campaign manager for councilman (and later, mayor) Tommy Carcetti.

After about 15 episodes, she was noticeably pregnant with her son, who’s now 9, and it appears that was the end of that for her acting career. She and her then-partner Tim had romantic notions of leaving their cramped apartment in the big city, where she’d also done some theatre work to great acclaim, to raise their family in a very small town upstate. Her new role in life would be as parent and homemaker, and she approached it with the gusto she had previously applied to her professional career. She began to expertly can vegetables and the like, and started to see her new life as a project almost, a work in progress. Upon watching ACTRESS it started to look to me like motherhood was a new role she was slowly but surely researching, rather than jumping headfirst into and playing outright. “This is my creative outlet now, I guess,” she says with a wry smile in the film, referring woodenly to the messy house and domestic detritus surrounding her.

By the time Robert Greene had started shooting the cinema verite documentary, she'd made up her mind to attempt a professional comeback, which is crucial to its development – and perhaps motivation. It’s this dissatisfaction with her new – and carefully constructed – life that becomes the focus for the documentary if it can be called that, as even the most intimate chats sometime bear a heavy hint of artifice to me. If it isn’t then it sure makes for some great dramatic moments, such as when we learn Burre’s marriage is crumbling and that she is having an affair. When the actress confides on-camera that her long-term partner is finally moving out, Greene has said in an interview, “it was just as shocking to me as for the audience”.

So is the film a documentary or an audition tape – especially as post-release Burre has rejuvenated her career and being offered some small, but significant roles. The roles she chooses now are reportedly “about originality and inspiring her creativity”, an include the 2014 indie film “Listen Up Philip”, starring Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss, and edited by Greene. She is in talks for two new film roles, both written and produced by women, which apparently makes her especially proud. Earlier this year she took to the boards in stage production of the musical “Kiss Me, Kate”, directed by her boyfriend, Christopher Bowen, the lover alluded to in ACTRESS.

The question is: did Burre ever stop being an actress, because what are life and work and parenthood but assuming different identities, moving between different worlds? We all do it to some degree – playing different roles according to what the moment suits, often juggling a few badly but forging on all the same.

Watch ACTRESS and make up your mind, what roles are you constantly playing?