“When I was a child, I was obsessed with changing myself.”
That is a quote that stuck with me after watching Jennifer Fox’s The Tale. If I were to watch this film knowing anymore then I did, I doubt I would have found it as breathtaking as I did after the credits started to role.
Jennifer Fox is a documentarian and filmmaker (a damn good one) who has entered into the realm of narrative storytelling. Her debut feature is a “based on a true story” piece, derived from a story she wrote when she was a child. I always have the same initial reaction to hearing the “true story” model for filmmaking but this is no cash-grab banking off of a old horror story. This is a dark tale of innocence, pride, emotional pain and regret. Fox tells a story of herself as a young girl, dealing with the grips of family strife and the willingness to feel loved and how that affected her development entering adulthood.
She shows her memories as if they are paintings moving clearer and faster the more she recalls. Creating a gothic atmosphere the longer we stay in said universe. The way the colour palate changes to match the tone of the scene is beautifully executed and draws us in to the mind of an adult attempting to bring these painful memories back into her life. Much of the films run-time in these memory sequences in the 1970s. They offer a sense of insecurity with every interaction that is shown on screen.
Laura Dern brings Jennifer Fox to life on screen. She exhibits the emotional weight immaculately the more she uncovers about her past. Every actor/actress is pulling their weight in this picture. Elizabeth Debicki plays the alluring and sociopathic riding coach to a tee. She plays the role with a miserly sense of dread, mixing the cold-hearted nature of Nurse Ratchet and the motherly nature of a mother bear. The backbone of the film rests on young actress Isabelle Nélisse, who is tasked with playing the younger version of Fox. She embodies the character extremely well, showing in her facial expressions and body language all of the confusion, pain and curiosity the character is struggling through.
There are many moments in The Tale that are truly hard to watch. The choices made by characters are entirely plausible reactions to their trauma and ways people express themselves by making terrible decisions, but ones that as a child are not seen as they truly are later in life. And that being the way the film ends. Having to confront the pain you once thought of as a feeling of rebellion and new-found affection as a child, and channeling that to what is now brought to light as a traumatic experience brought to life by someone who had no regard for the lives they were molding.
An achievement in storytelling. If I had any grips with the way the film was presented I would say the pacing was rushed despite the film being two hours, the film could probably have taken more time telling the story to allow the audience to experience the tale (no pun intended) unfold. But Nevertheless a great film and true bravery expressed by Jennifer Fox for bringing this story to light in such an artistic and raw way.
*image received from rogerebbert.com*
The FilmSpot 