The passing of both Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds this past December shocked not only their legion of fans but the film industry as a whole. In Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, we enter their lives over a year and a half before their sudden deaths, where we witness the physical and mental costs of working in Hollywood, family drama and hard living.

By way of interviews, home movies and news footage, we follow the two stars as they recount their lives: Debbie coming up through the studio system, her marriage to singer Eddie Fisher and the challenges she faced after he left the family for Elizabeth Taylor; Carrie’s childhood in a complicated family, her breakout role as Princess Leia, her work as a writer, as well as her struggles with bipolar disorder and substance abuse.

Through it all, we see genuine love and affection between mother and daughter (who had been next door neighbors for decades), and, with the benefit of hindsight, inadvertent hints of their declining health. Highly recommended.