X
- 2018
- TV-MA
- HBO Films
- 1 h 54 m
- 2018
- TV-MA
- HBO Films
- 1 h 54 m
Summary Jennifer Fox (Laura Dern) faces a host of life-altering questions after a short story from her middle school days forces her to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.
Directed By: Jennifer Fox
- 2018
- TV-MA
- HBO Films
- 1 h 54 m
- 2018
- TV-MA
- HBO Films
- 1 h 54 m
The Tale
7.2
Where to Watch
Summary Jennifer Fox (Laura Dern) faces a host of life-altering questions after a short story from her middle school days forces her to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.
Directed By: Jennifer Fox
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
90
100% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
90
100% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The Tale is a powerful and clear-eyed examination of sexual abuse and the shifting sands of one’s own memories.
It's a bold, significant piece of work: an investigative thriller with a grave finale that stuns you into silence, then, hopefully, something more.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 79 User Ratings
7.2
75% Positive
59 Ratings
59 Ratings
14% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
11% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 79 User Ratings
7.2
75% Positive
59 Ratings
59 Ratings
14% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
11% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist) is always amazing, Laura Dern going strong after Marriage Story. Autobiographical story of Jennifer Fox who has worked on lots of good movies. I like the way the nostalgia is interactive, breaks the 4th wall well. Nicely photographed and edited, good acting all around. I like how the perspective adjusts nostalgia to reality. It reminds me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, nostalgia from an adult perspective. I like the idea of realizing in adulthood that we were abused in childhood, in many ways. I like how she saw herself as a hero for walking away, failing to see how she was victimized. There are no heroes in these stories, only survivors.
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Not since "Mysterious Skin" has a film so tenderly explored the psychological effects of sexual abuse on children as they develop into adults around the minefields of their own coping mechanisms. The fact that the film is autobiographical grants it additional layers of intimacy, empathy, and strength.
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This beautiful, gripping, disturbing film deserves to be looked at with as much nuance as it offers. It’s not a damned hashtag-anything movie, it’s a potent and poetic autobiography that refuses polemic or politics. It manages to dive so deeply into the personal that it explodes into something universal.
It's a very fine film, powerful yet nuanced and not in any sense sensational or exploitative.
The Tale is above all a work of profound empathy, as a look inside someone’s psyche would have to be. Fox isn’t just excavating the abuse she suffered as a girl; she’s also engaging with and forgiving herself, reconciling with the damage that she had convinced herself to ignore for years.
In The Tale, Fox takes an experience that’s far, far too common — and newly visible in American culture — and mines it for its emotional heft, turning it into an interrogation of how those who’ve experienced assault and abuse go on to navigate their lives. It is a story of a woman taking her life back, nested in a film serving the same purpose.
Both a natural extension of Fox’s career to date and a complete about-face, The Tale marks her first narrative feature, but only because traditional documentary wouldn’t do justice to this messy, meandering investigation into her traumatic first sexual experience, for the incidents it depicts are true, “at least as far I know.”
Quite frankly, "The Tale" is a difficult film to watch, but it tells a complicated story that deserves to be told. Definitely not a film for the very young. It might be worth seeing with teenagers along with their parents, but only if the parents are prepared to have a long discussion with their children afterwards. Laura Dern, as expected gives a strong performance, but Jason Ritter as Bill is absolutely fearless. It's hard to imagine anyone doing a better job in the latter role then Ritter.
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It is not an easy film and it doesn't deal with a easy theme, in addition to the fact that the paused way in which the story is told will not get many followers for the cause, but being a personal story of the director and screenwriter; Jennifer Fox, the film takes on a different relevance in particular. for the touch and sensitivity that she provides and that undoubtedly makes a difference from other films that portray a similar topic.
Indispensable.
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I think it's overrated in critics reviews even though actually it's a fantastic movie that moves your heart to the heartbreaking subject that the movie is all about. The best parts of the movie are last scenes when the grown up character finally get this point that it's absolutely wrong to behave like this to a teenager girl.
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Timely and above all; IMPORTANT. Powerful performances and great direction. Laura Dern is at her best here with a topic that sadly reflects our every-day world.
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La autobiografía de la directora, periodista, y documentalista Jennifer Fox es una de las películas más conmovedoras y fuertes del año, ya que la directora se atreve a contar el abuso sexual que sufrió a los 13 años. Mientras Jennifer trabajaba en un documental sobre victimas de abuso infantil, un día recibe una llamada de sus madre, alarmada, al encontrar una historia que escribió durante un verano. En ese tiempo ella vivía en un campamento de equitación, junto con tres jóvenes. La señora G, su entrenadora de equitación, una mujer disciplinada y guapa. El señor G, fue la "pareja" (como ella lo llamó durante mucho tiempo) de Jenny cuando ella tenia 13.
La historia se construye poco a poca, los datos se van formando. Se acompaña con la interpretación de Laura Denn, que llega a conmover con más intensidad en la escena final. Elizabeth Debicki no se queda sin merito, también ofrece una interpretación muy bien lograda.
Una forma novedosa de narrar una autobiografía, que se ayuda de la historia escrita por Jennifer a los 13. Puede que posiblemente la película incomode a ciertos públicos, perosi se observa con una visión seria notará las intenciones que guarda.
No pasen por alto The Tale, una de las mejores películas del año
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Production Company
Gamechanger Films,
A Luminous Mind Production,
Untitled Entertainment,
Blackbird Films,
ONE TWO Films,
Fork Films,
Artemis Rising Foundation,
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF),
ARTE,
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg,
Blackbird,
Chicago Media Project,
WeatherVane Productions
Release Date May 26, 2018
Duration 1 h 54 m
Rating TV-MA
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Online Film & Television Association
• 1 Win & 6 Nominations
Durban International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
