The Tale - The memory

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Movie
German title The Tale - The memory
Original title The Tale
Country of production United States ,
Germany
original language English
Publishing year 2018
length 114 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jennifer Fox
script Jennifer Fox
production Jennifer Fox,
Oren Moverman ,
Laura Rister ,
Mynette Louie ,
Simone Pero ,
Lawrence Inglee ,
Sol Bondy ,
Regina Kulik Scully ,
Lynda Weinman ,
Reka Posta
music Ariel Marx
camera Denis Lenoir ,
Ivan Strasburg
cut Anne Fabini ,
Alex Hall ,
Gary Levy
occupation

The Tale (Original title: The Tale ; English for the story or the story ) is an American film drama and the feature film debut by documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fox from the year 2018, based on real events, which took place on January 20, 2018 on the Sundance Film Festival in Utah had world premiere.

The film tells the story of Jennifer Fox herself, who wrote the script over a five-year period and used her own experiences of sexual abuse in her childhood. The leading roles include Laura Dern , Isabelle Nélisse , Elizabeth Debicki , Jason Ritter and Ellen Burstyn .

action

The 48-year-old Jennifer, happily engaged to the loving Martin, a documentary filmmaker, journalist and professor from New York , is suddenly called several times by her angry mother Nettie and confronted with a story from the past, which Nettie found while clearing out a box. This story, written by Jenny 35 years ago for an English class, describes a girl's relationship with two “special people”, the respected athlete and running coach Bill and his married lover Mrs. G. on a horse farm where the 13-year-old child was spending the summer vacation .

Jennifer assures her mother that she has only put her first love affair on paper, but Nettie is convinced that her daughter was abused by the two adults as a teenager and tried to deal with the trauma in this way . Jennifer recalls initially vague about having looked like 15 then and searched in her parents' house old photo albums to make sure no child more to have been. Nettie arrives and shows her a photo that, at the age of 13, looks much younger than she remembers. Jennifer also finds old letters and postcards that were once sent to her by Bill and Mrs. G. After studying her story and the letters, Jennifer's first doubts about her memory of an amicable love affair are aroused. As a 13-year-old girl, did she really enter into her first sexual relationship with 40-year-old coach Bill voluntarily? But when Martin reads the story and Bill's letters to Jenny, the two get into a heated argument because he describes their relationship with this older man as the rape of a child and Jennifer as a victim of abuse, which she angrily denies. Jennifer refuses to be seen as a victim because her relationship with the two coaches was important to her.

Jennifer now travels to the places of her past to deal with the people involved and the events. In doing so, she increasingly recognizes the truth behind the facade that she had erected at that time in order to suppress the physical abuse and to be able to "survive" the abuse by her trainer and to see herself not as a victim but as a heroine. Flashbacks from Jennifer's slowly breaking memories show how invisible she felt as a shy thirteen-year-old, misunderstood and unloved even by her parents. The trainer Bill and Mrs. G, the owner of the riding facility and riding instructor, give Jenny the feeling that she is the only ones to recognize her increasing pain and loneliness. In this way they can influence and manipulate Jenny in order to gain the child's trust and ultimately love. Mrs. G. brings Jenny, who is allowed to accommodate her horse on the farm, to her home on several weekends after the summer vacation. The two trainers also take her on private excursions so that Bill can build and prepare a credible relationship for Jenny. Later, Mrs. G. suggests that she spend the nights at Bill's house so that he can get to know her better. Although this makes Jenny uncomfortable, she agrees. When she is alone with Bill in his house to read poetry together, he initially only persuades her to take off her T-shirt and show him her breasts, which she allows against her feelings. On another weekend, instead of Mrs. G., he picks up Jenny from home and is again alone with her, with the intention of having sex with Jenny. However, he does not succeed and breaks off for the time being. After that, he kisses her hand and continues the abuse . On another evening for two by the fireplace, he gives Jenny a ring as a token of his love and uses the romantically staged situation to promote the abuse, while he makes strange statements about the purity and uncompromisingness of children. Then he shows the silent, passive Jenny the towel, which is blood-stained from the defloration, and says that she is now a woman. In the bathroom, the child must be repeatedly passed as henceforth regularly.

During the painful search for the truth about what happened in her childhood, Jennifer speaks to Iris, among others, who worked for Mrs. G. on the horse farm as a teenager . She finds out that there was a plot between Bill and Mrs. G. at the time to attract young girls and to abuse them sexually. Mrs. G. introduced the girls to Bill and introduced them to him. Iris confirms Jennifer's suspicion of being seduced by Bill as well. She reports of sexual acts between the two adult trainers and her, which were planned by Mrs. G. in specially arranged settings. After this shocking realization, Jennifer remembers Bill's suggestion to take her on a weekend trip with him, Mrs. G. and Iris. She suddenly becomes aware of the active role women play in their abuse. The morning before the planned weekend, Jenny vomited and her mother decided to keep her at home. On the evening of that day, Jenny herself made the decision to end her relationship with Bill and told him on the phone that she no longer wanted to see him, despite his tearful assurances that she loved and needed her and his incantations not to give him up leave. Immediately afterwards, Jenny called Mrs. G. to inform her that she would pick up her horse on the weekend.

In the "Now" in the last part of the film, you can see how Jennifer goes to an award ceremony in search of her tormentor at the time, where the heavily aged Bill is honored for his services. She confronts him, who does not even recognize her spontaneously, with his deeds, asks him why he has done this to her, a child, and sexually exploited her. He denies and weighs what leads Jennifer to assure his wife and the other guests how much she hated every minute as a 13-year-old child when he abused her for sex. Bill angrily denies all allegations, blames her for everything that happened and leaves the event. Then Jennifer asks the embarrassed guests: "What? Never been trained by Bill?" and rushes to the toilet, where she tries to calm herself, wavering between panic and relief.

occupation

  • Laura Dern as Jennifer
    • Isabelle Nélisse as Jenny, 13 years old
      • Jessica Sarah Fluff as Jenny, 15 years old
  • Elizabeth Debicki as Mrs. G, Jenny's riding instructor and lover of Bill
  • Jason Ritter as Bill, Jenny's treadmill and lover of Mrs. G
  • Ellen Burstyn as Nettie, Jennifer's mother
  • Common as Martin, Jennifer's fiancé
  • Tina Parker as Franny
  • Gretchen Koerner as Iris
    • Madison David as the younger Iris
  • Chelsea Alden as Samantha
  • Matthew Rauch as Aaron
  • Jaqueline Fleming as Margie
  • Jodi Long as Rebecca
    • Shay Lee Abeson as young Becky
  • Dana Healey as Dr. G, Mrs. G's husband
    • Grant James as Anthony Gramercy, Dr. G older
  • Juli Erickson as Jenny's grandmother
  • Aaron Williamson as Raymond
  • Daniel Berson as Joe
  • Noah Lomax as Lucas Mendelson
  • Thom Bishops as Detective Amato
  • Scott Takeda as Master of Ceremonies Mr. Watada
  • Ricki Bhullar as Student # 1
  • Jenson Cheng as Student # 2
  • Madara Jayasena as Student # 3
  • Emily Sandifer as Student # 4

Prehistory, production and publication

Ten years before the film was released, after her mother Geraldine Dietz Fox discovered the story for her English class and encouraged her to use her talents and opportunities of filmmaking to turn it into a feature film, director Jennifer Fox began writing one Script from old drafts that she had started in her twenties. However, Fox discarded everything she had written down at the time because it was only at the age of 45 and while working on her documentary Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman that she became aware that her relationship with her trainer was sexual abuse as a teenager and hadn't been amicable, as she'd told herself over and over again. Fox went on trips with her mother to visit people from her past and to investigate how the story and its background could be put together into a compact narrative and captured in script form. The many conversations that took place during this time were also incorporated into the script in order to ultimately turn it into a feature film that shows the complexity of sexual abuse that can even take place under the noses of loved ones. It was also the intention of mother and daughter not to keep the problem of child abuse hidden any longer and to create a public awareness of how far back sexual child abuse goes back in the generations of families and which trauma these stories can trigger as well as the opportunity to do so use it to reach millions of viewers and specifically teach them the sneakiness and complexity of child abuse.

After Fox had finished the script and was satisfied with it, she faced many new challenges and hurdles in terms of funding and implementation of the film project, as she insisted in front of potential donors that there should be a scene in the film that Show sexual intercourse between a child and an adult. There were many rejections from film producers because nobody wanted to finance a film that explicitly shows the abuse of an underage girl. Most cameramen also refused to record intimate scenes with a child. Nobody wanted to think about how to make such recordings because it was not possible. Thanks to her many years of experience in the documentary film sector, the director was able to win a network of French-German and private donors from the United States, such as artists, entrepreneurs and producers, and to appeal to the courage of these people to tell such a story, especially when it comes to that There was no supportive #MeToo movement at the time.

In May 2015 it was reported for the first time that the actresses Laura Dern , Ellen Burstyn and Elizabeth Debicki as well as Sebastian Koch were hired as Jennifer's German friend for a film called The Tale and that filming should start in summer 2015. In May 2016, other actors such as Common were confirmed to replace Sebastian Koch, Jason Ritter , Frances Conroy and John Heard and Isabelle Nélisse as 13-year-old Jennifer for the project. Laura Dern, who was hired for the film production relatively early, was recommended to Fox by filmmaker Brian De Palma , because he was convinced that Dern would be the only one who would have the courage for this extraordinary role. In turn, Jason Ritter suggested Bill for the role of running coach, because Fox did not want to cast a performer who would correspond to the common cliché of a pedo criminal, but someone who could portray a recognized, friendly and lovable person into which a little girl could fit would also believably fall in love.

Young actress Isabelle Nélisse, on the other hand, was personally selected as the final cast for Jenny by director Fox during a nationwide and long casting process. Her older sister Sophie Nélisse was originally offered the role, but Sophie wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the role at first. After funding the film proved very difficult and dragged on for a long time, she had outgrown the role as Fox was looking for a girl who was still childlike. This led to phone calls with Sophie's mother, Pauline Belhumeur, whose younger daughter Isabelle was a child actress. Belhumeur then handed over the script to Isabelle, without mentioning that Sophie had previously been considered for the role, and gave her daughter the opportunity to decide for herself whether she wanted to take on the role. Isabelle accepted, read the script, and then called Fox on Skype to ask her questions about their story as well as the real Bill, why she did all this and how the scenes of abuse should be filmed, as she never does anything like that would play. Fox has therefore assured Isabelle and Pauline Belhumeur that everything will be done to protect Isabelle from traumatizing topics and that there will be no nude photos with her.

Because Fox continued to insist that they only want to produce the film when the physical scenes of sexual abuse of 13-year-old Jennifer by her treadmill Bill are explicitly shown to visualize how confusing and painful these events were for her and the real horror of child abuse is not only presented in a blurry and mystified way, an adult body double was used to protect Isabelle Nélisse, who was not yet 13 when filming began . The actors were recorded separately and on different days and only close-ups of the face up to Nélisse's shoulders were used in the sex scenes, which were filmed standing on a vertically positioned bed in order to exclude direct physical contact with Ritter. In order to help Nélisse during these recordings to be able to represent the emotions necessary for the scenes in a believable way, Fox gave her alternative, non-sexual stage directions, for example to imagine how she would feel if she were stung by a bee or followed by a dog . Furthermore, Nélisse her mother, a representative of the American actors' union SAG-AFTRA , an educator from the producing studio and a psychiatrist were put to one side during the filming to prevent her being mentally hurt by the recordings. In addition, all characters names of the people involved, with the exception of Fox himself, as well as some details about the actual events and locations have been changed in the final film to avoid identification. All shooting for the film took place in Shreveport , Louisiana and Los Angeles , California . In addition to several US companies, the German production company One Two Films with the support of the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the ZDF in cooperation with Arte were involved in the financing of the production .

The Tale was presented to the public for the first time on January 20, 2018 as part of the US Dramatic Competition during the 34th Sundance Film Festival . HBO Films secured worldwide distribution rights for 7 million US dollars and is therefore responsible for the further marketing of The Tale . On April 9, HBO first published the first official short teaser for the film and an official trailer on April 24, 2018 . Furthermore was The Tale on 27 April at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City to see. On May 26, 2018, HBO first aired the film on US television. He is also on May 31 and June 2, 2018 at the Sundance Film Festival: London as " UK - Premiere been shown." Furthermore, it was The Tale in July 2018 the Munich Film Festival to see. The rights for the first broadcast on German television were granted to Sky and took place on August 17, 2018 on Sky Cinema . The film is also available as video-on-demand . A broadcast date on ZDF is not yet known. The film was broadcast on Arte on March 6, 2020 and is available in the media library until March 12, 2020.

Film music

The music for the film was composed by the American composer Ariel Marx and was released on June 8, 2018 on the Lakeshore Entertainment label Lakeshore Records . In addition to the score by Marx, the soundtrack also contains the song Wait On Me by Samora Pinderhughes and Common .

The Tale - The memory
Soundtrack by Ariel Marx

Publication
(s)

2018

Label (s) Lakeshore Records (Lakeshore Entertainment)

Format (s)

Download

Genre (s)

Soundtrack

Title (number)

17th

running time

31:01

production

Ariel Marx

chronology
By Jingo The Tale - The memory To dust
The Tale - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 
No. title Interpreter length
1. The Story You Are About to See is True, as Far as I Know   1:10
2. The First Descent   0:57
3. Woman Who's Married; a Man Who's Divorced   0:59
4th Driving to Mrs. G   1:20
5. Jenny, Jenny, Jenny with All Your Questions   2:33
6th I have made a decision   1:56
7th History Erased in a Flash   1:37
8th. I got something else   1:43
9. Jenny & Jennifer   1:26
10. Funny How You Live with People in Your Mind   1:27
11. No Bad Horses, Only Bad Riders   1:21
12. How do people change   1:36
13. My Dear Jenny   1:13
14th First place   1:32
15th I'm Not the Victim, I'm the Hero   2:31
16. I'd Like to Begin This Story by Telling You Something so Beautiful   2:29
17th Wait on me Samora Pinderhughes & Common 5:11
Overall length: 31:01

reception

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic 98%
audience 88%
Metacritic
critic 90/100
audience
IMDb

The reviews of The Tale have been 98% positive so far. The film received a rating of 9.0 out of 10 possible points on the Rotten Tomatoes website , based on 60 positive reviews and a critical and also a user rating of 88%, with an average rating of 4.1 out of 5 possible points. The site's critical consensus states: " The Tale treats its extraordinarily challenging subject matter with sensitivity, propriety and the power of some outstanding appearances led by a remarkable Laura Dern." The Metacritic website calculated a Metascore of 90 based on 26 reviews from well-known media and a user rating of 8.2 with 10 possible points. (As of August 27, 2018)

Some critics praised the director's courage to have gone public with her story and not to be afraid of the "painful" and "shocking" scenes of the seduction and rape of the 13-year-old version of Jennifer Almost too far when it comes to the trick possibilities of the cinematic representation of the sexual abuse that the director herself experienced. It is true that one would never see direct nudity of the child, but the viewer's imagination alone is enough to make it difficult to bear the incidents of the scene. In addition, the good acting performances of the actors, above all an intensely acting Laura Dern and Isabelle Nélisse, who play her role with a heartbreaking vulnerability, would make a big contribution to the credibility of the event.

Other reviewers see a connection with the current #MeToo debate and the resulting reappraisal of these stories, which is happening all over the world. At the press conference after the premiere of the film at the Sundance Film Festival , there was a calm but standing ovation . However, some viewers had already left the hall during the rape scenes in the film. In addition, a “rocky silence” was sometimes reported during the credits , but the film as a whole was referred to as a “milestone”, which, however, could not be viewed a second time.

Awards (selection)

Tabular list of nominations and awards
year Award category Nominees & Award Winners Result Ref.
2018 Sundance Film Festival US Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Jennifer Fox, et al Nominated
Oslo Pix Award Grand Pix International Award Won
Audience award Won
Munich Film Festival - ARRI / Osram Award CineMasters - Best International Film Nominated
Durban International Film Festival Best script Jennifer Fox Won
Best cut Anne Fabini , Alex Hall & Gary Level Won
Gold Derby Awards - Television Best TV movie Jennifer Fox, et al Nominated
Best Actress in a Miniseries / TV Movie Laura Dern Won
70th Primetime Emmy Awards Best TV movie Jennifer Fox, et al Nominated
Best Actress in a Miniseries or a TV Movie Laura Dern Nominated
2019 Golden Globe Awards Best Actress - Miniseries or TV Movie Nominated

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for The Tale - The Memory . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 181551 / V; release date: August 22, 2018, accessed on August 27, 2018). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Peter Debruge: Sundance Film Review: 'The Tale'. In: variety.com. January 20, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Sara Stewart: Laura Dern's 'The Tale' tells a horrifying, true story of childhood sexual abuse. In: nypost.com. January 22, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Leslie Felperin: 'The Tale': Film Review - Sundance 2018. In: hollywoodreporter.com. January 20, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b Geraldine Dietz Fox: Letter from Jennifer's Mother. In: thetalemovie.com. Accessed August 10, 2018 (English).
  6. ↑ a b c Jennifer Fox: Letter from Jennifer - The Tale. In: thetalemovie.com. Accessed August 8, 2018 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e Mia Galuppo: How 'The Tale' Filmmaker Fought to Bring Her Own Sexual Abuse Story to the Screen. In: hollywoodreporter.com. May 31, 2018, accessed August 8, 2018 .
  8. ^ Nancy Tartaglione: Mongrel Boards Laura Dern-Starrer 'The Tale'; Camera d'Or Jury Set - Cannes Briefs. In: deadline.com. May 5, 2015, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  9. ↑ a b Tatiana Siegel: Cannes: Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Common Head Up Cast for Jennifer Fox's 'The Tale' (Exclusive). In: hollywoodreporter.com. May 14, 2016, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b c d e f g h Adam B. Vary: The Most Intense Movie Of The Year Is About Child Sexual Abuse - And It's Nothing Like You'd Expect. In: buzzfeed.com. May 25, 2018, accessed May 26, 2018 .
  11. ↑ a b Alice Vincent: Why The Tale, a shocking true story of child abuse, has left Sundance speechless. In: telegraph.co.uk. January 24, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  12. ^ A b c Nicole Sperling: Sundance's First Standing Ovation Goes to Laura Dern and The Tale. In: vanityfair.com. January 20, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Kate Erbland: 'The Tale': Sundance's Most Controversial Sex Scene Is Also Its Most Powerful. In: indiewire.com. January 23, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  14. ↑ IMDb : The Tale (2018) - Filming & Production Locations. In: imdb.com. Accessed February 13, 2018 .
  15. ^ One Two Films GmbH: The Tale film by Jennifer Fox. In: onetwofilms.com. Accessed February 13, 2018 .
  16. ↑ © Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH: 3 Medienboard-funded films at the Sundance Film Festival. In: medienboard.de. November 30, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Ramin Setoodeh, Brent Lang: Sundance Sensation 'The Tale' Sells to HBO Films (EXCLUSIVE). In: variety.com. January 26, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Mia Galuppo, Tatiana Siegel, Ashley Lee: Sundance: Laura Dern Drama 'The Tale' Nabbed by HBO Films for $ 7M. In: hollywoodreporter.com. January 26, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  19. ↑ a b Joey Nolfi: Laura Dern sexual abuse drama 'The Tale' gets HBO premiere date. In: ew.com. April 9, 2018, accessed April 12, 2018 .
  20. ↑ a b Deirdre Durkan: 'The Tale' Trailer: HBO's Laura Dern drama Delves Into Sexual Abuse. In: hollywoodreporter.com. April 9, 2018, accessed April 12, 2018 .
  21. ^ Adam Chitwood: 'The Tale' Trailer Reveals One of the Best and Most Essential Films of 2018. In: collider.com. April 24, 2018, accessed April 26, 2018 .
  22. ^ Tribeca Film Festival : The Tale - Spotlight Narrative - New York Premiere. In: tribecafilm.com. Retrieved April 16, 2018 .
  23. ↑ © 2018 Sundance Institute: Women Filmmakers Leading The Way At Sundance Film Festival: London. In: sundance.org. April 19, 2018, accessed April 26, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Andreas Wiseman: Sundance London Reveals Lineup With Strong Female Presence Including 'The Tale' & 'Leave No Trace'. In: deadline.com. April 19, 2018, accessed April 26, 2018 .
  25. ↑ John-Paul Pierrot: The Tale. In: spotlight.picturehouses.com. April 19, 2018, accessed April 26, 2018 .
  26. ↑ a b Internationale Münchner Filmwochen GmbH: Details - THE TALE. In: filmfest-muenchen.de. June 1, 2018, accessed June 12, 2018 .
  27. ^ Prisma Verlag GmbH & Co.KG: The Tale - The Memory - Sky Cinema. In: prisma.de. Retrieved July 23, 2018 .
  28. ↑ a b Filmmusicreporter: 'The Tale' Soundtrack Announced. In: filmmusicreporter.com. June 1, 2018, accessed August 12, 2018 .
  29. ↑ a b c d e © Fandango: The Tale (2018). In: rottentomatoes.com. Accessed August 27, 2018 (English).
  30. ↑ a b c © CBS Interactive Inc .: The Tale. In: metacritic.com. Accessed August 10, 2018 (English).
  31. ↑ IMDb: The Tale (2018) - User ratings. In: imdb.com. Accessed July 12, 2018 .
  32. ↑ a b c d David Ehrlich: 'The Tale' Review: Jennifer Fox Directs Laura Dern in an Unspeakably Powerful Story About Her Own Sexual Assault - Sundance 2018. In: indiewire.com. January 22, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  33. ↑ a b c d Jordan Hoffman: The Tale review - stunning sexual abuse drama is the mother of all #MeToo movies. In: theguardian.com. January 21, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  34. ↑ Tomris Laffly: The Tale - Memory is a minefield in writer-director Jennifer Fox's unflinching self-exploration of her own sexual abuse. In: timeout.com. January 30, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  35. ↑ a b Kevin Fallon: #METOO - The Disturbing Child Rape Movie That Left Sundance Speechless. In: thedailybeast.com. January 20, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  36. ↑ Peter Howell: First #MeToo film, The Tale, gets standing ovation at Sundance - Toronto Star. In: thestar.com. January 21, 2018, accessed February 13, 2018 .
  37. ^ IMDb: The Tale Awards. In: imdb.com. Accessed February 13, 2018 .
  38. ↑ Wendy Mitchell: Oslo Pix awards go to 'The Tale', 'Amateurs', 'Distant Barking of Dogs'. In: screendaily.com. June 11, 2018, accessed June 12, 2018 .
  39. ^ Oslo Pix: The Tale. In: oslopix.no. Retrieved June 12, 2018 (Norwegian).
  40. ^ DIFF: Durban International Film Festival - Durban International Film Festival Award Winners - 2018. In: durbanfilmfest.co.za. Retrieved August 2, 2018 .
  41. ↑ Daniel Montgomery, Chris Beachum, Marcus James Dixon, Joyce Eng: 2018 Gold Derby TV Awards winners: 'Versace' and 'Handmaid's Tale' are top winners, but 'Game of Thrones' takes Best Drama. In: goldderby.com. September 6, 2018, accessed September 9, 2018 .
  42. ↑ THR Staff: Emmys: Netflix Beats HBO With Most Nominations. In: hollywoodreporter.com. July 12, 2018, accessed on July 12, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Zach Johnson: 2019 Golden Globe Nominations. In: eonline.com. December 6, 2018, accessed December 12, 2018 .