THE STORIES WE TELL (2012)
Canadian actress, writer, director, producer Sarah Polley made an out-of-the-box documentary about her own family secret: her charming, whirlwind-of-a-woman mother, Diane Polley, died of cancer when Sarah was eleven, and it was "joked" through her childhood that Sarah's father was an actor Diane had an affair while appearing in a play in Montréal; this is confirmed by a DNA test when Sarah is twenty-seven, only it turns out to be a different man than most in her family thought it was.
In this film, Sarah interviews the four siblings she grew up with, her biological father and newfound sister, friends of her mother, including the man who was rumored to be Sarah's bio dad. At the heart of the interviews is the man who raised her, actor Michael Polley, reading a self-depricating memoir he wrote about his curmudgeonly life with Diane, (the life of the party), and scenes of Sarah having a sit-down with her biological father, movie producer and theatre director Harry Gulkin.
After recording the stories, Sarah used 8mm film to recreate the events spoken about and then wove these bits in with the interview / narratives, along with some home movies.
I liked some of the players, especially her siblings, who seemed genuinely supportive of Sarah, which is not always a trait found in families. The throughline about the man who raised her felt inauthentic and sad to me.
I appreciated the novalty of Sarah's artistic approach to working through this personal life revelation via a creative, probing documentary, however it felt both too personal, yet not personal enough to me. I would have preferred to hear Sarah's own unblanched narrative rather than her steady direction to her father to repeat lines he was reciting and snatches of her reading emails she sent to both of her fathers. I felt deflated, uncomfortable, and was not deeply moved by this film.
Canadian actress, writer, director, producer Sarah Polley made an out-of-the-box documentary about her own family secret: her charming, whirlwind-of-a-woman mother, Diane Polley, died of cancer when Sarah was eleven, and it was "joked" through her childhood that Sarah's father was an actor Diane had an affair while appearing in a play in Montréal; this is confirmed by a DNA test when Sarah is twenty-seven, only it turns out to be a different man than most in her family thought it was.
In this film, Sarah interviews the four siblings she grew up with, her biological father and newfound sister, friends of her mother, including the man who was rumored to be Sarah's bio dad. At the heart of the interviews is the man who raised her, actor Michael Polley, reading a self-depricating memoir he wrote about his curmudgeonly life with Diane, (the life of the party), and scenes of Sarah having a sit-down with her biological father, movie producer and theatre director Harry Gulkin.
After recording the stories, Sarah used 8mm film to recreate the events spoken about and then wove these bits in with the interview / narratives, along with some home movies.
I liked some of the players, especially her siblings, who seemed genuinely supportive of Sarah, which is not always a trait found in families. The throughline about the man who raised her felt inauthentic and sad to me.
I appreciated the novalty of Sarah's artistic approach to working through this personal life revelation via a creative, probing documentary, however it felt both too personal, yet not personal enough to me. I would have preferred to hear Sarah's own unblanched narrative rather than her steady direction to her father to repeat lines he was reciting and snatches of her reading emails she sent to both of her fathers. I felt deflated, uncomfortable, and was not deeply moved by this film.