Review - Stories We Tell
Who the fuck cares about our family?
Directed by: Sarah Polley
Written by: Sarah Polley
Starring: Rebecca Jenkins
Running Time: 109 minutes
Rating: 3.5/5
I mean, there is some truth to that, I guess.
There must be some sort of reason of why one may feel inclined to believe that their story may be more impactful or dare I say, dramatic. We can argue that we may all be a little bit selfish to think that the only family that matters is our own – we can withdraw from all personal connections, relationships and even biases as time withers on. They do say that blood is thicker than water.
Though, I think it’s also fair to respond back and say – “Why wouldn’t we care?” or even arguably, why should we care?
Maybe it’s the way our heart and soul remembers things.
The way our memories flash polaroid picture dreams of what we know, what we knew, what we lived, what we loved; a symphony of milestones tangled upon heartstrings tethered to our bones, like initials carved into forever.
Our mind plays games with us sometimes; a little bit manic and a little bit nostalgic – whatever we know could just be the wrong notes played by the orchestra of our soul.
Looking back at Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, it’s hard not to think that maybe the Polley family isn’t that different than my own. Your own. A documentary structured around Sarah’s own personal upbringing and family life – it serves as a deep reflection of memory, grief and the truths and secrets that build the foundation of the stories we know, we knew and those ready to be told.
Expertly crafted in its intimacy, empathy and narrative construction; Polley unravels her own ravensburger puzzle, a stunning 1000 piece portait of her life. Revelations hidden away in polaroid, film stock, recreations and heartstring memories all pass by like fleeting moments are rearranged like a thrilling mystery novel. Polley invites us into her home, her past and complexities and emotional downturns of her family life.
When Sarah has an inkling of such a secret in her family; she goes down a rabbit hole of a life that she thought she knew. Once on this road, Stories We Tell earns its right to grow much more than a personal secret - it is a testament of the human soul, memory and heart.
The film is fascinating, engrossing and emotionally powerful; an empathetic exploration of human nature and the secrets our families choose to keep and the time lost in the shadow of those decisions. Stories We Tell serves as both a love-letter, investigative journalism and meditative reflection of Polley’s relationship with her mother and father. Like our own memory, we stand unreliable to a fault, writing our own endings to our stories, our own what-ifs, and what could-have’s. We look back at our own lives, even armed to the teeth with physical media, pictures and videos, we always seem to paint our biases on how we experienced these fleeting moments.
Mom loved Dad, Dad loved Mom, Mom hated Dad, Dad hated Mom, Mom cheated on Dad, Dad left Mom.
Could have, would have, did, did not. Our mind plays tricks on ourselves. We tell ourselves our own stories that we want to believe. Sometimes it’s the hard truth that truly shatters the way we believe our own selves.
Stories We Tell is riveting in both its simplicity, honesty and complexity. I don’t know Sarah Polley but I feel like I sat in a very revealing family reunion. One that is full of belly laughs, moments of palpable tension and full on crying, a cathartic release of lost time, lost lives and a world never seen.
Sarah Polley’s story is universal and its ambition its remarkable, powerful and reflective. A beautiful memory, left untouched, unknown in its melancholy.
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