“Stories We Tell”, the latest film by Sarah Polley hits the theatres today. Sarah Polley is one of Canada’s most versatile and accomplished filmmakers, moving smoothly from brilliant narrative films like “Away From Her” to powerful documentaries like this one.
Perhaps Sarah should have called this film “Secrets We Keep”. Most families have their little secrets, as do most people. Sometimes it is secrets we keep from our children; sometimes it is secrets we keep from our spouses; sometimes it is secrets we keep from the outside world.
In this film, Sarah has chosen to uncover a secret in her own family and investigate its sources and its effect. She does this effortlessly, moving from one stage of the story to another, each time surprising her audience with the new revelations. Sometimes, it seems, she even surprises herself.
In her first documentary, Sarah interviews members of her family, her parents’ friends and associates and uses archival footage, photos and reconstructed scenes to delve into the story of her parents, and in this way her own story.
Sarah was the youngest child of Micheal and Diane Polley, who were both actors and involved in the world of theatre. Her mother basically gave up acting in order to raise her children and her father gave up the theatre in order to have a stable income. At one point, her mother was offered an opportunity to appear in a play in Montreal. She went to that city and spent two months there. Sarah’s father went to Montreal to visit his wife several times.
After Sarah’s mother returned from Montreal, she discovered that she was pregnant, and at first wanted to abort, but found that she couldn’t do it. Thus Sarah was born.
Through the years Sarah’s siblings would comment on the fact that she did not look like her father and would joke that she wasn’t their father’s child. As the years went by, this thought began to take a more serious turn and the family would speculate as to which actor from the Montreal play might be Sarah’s biological father.
When Sarah was eleven, her mother succumbed to cancer As a result, she was raised by her father and they became quite close. But the thoughts that she might be a result of an affair by her mother never left her.
In this film, Sarah undertakes to track down the truth. She interviews the actor everyone thought might be her father but he insists his relationship with Sarah’s mother was strictly one of friendship.
In time, she learns about Harry, a man her mother seemed to be close to while she was in Montreal. Sarah contacts Harry and arranges to meet him. They have a very nice talk, and at the very end of the conversation, almost as a second thought, Sarah asks Harry whether this actor could have been her father. Harry says no, because he is her biological father.
And thus begins Sarah’s voyage to discover her new father, get to know him and his family, including her half sister, and her journey to include this new found family while remaining loyal and committed to her old family, especially the man she grew up knowing as her father.
The film is warm, touching and always surprising. Her parents prove to be rather unusual and quixotic, but her father, who participated in the filming, is a generous man who supports Sarah in everything she does, even when it could hurt him. He even reads parts of his memoirs on camera.
“Stories We Tell” is a wonderful love poem to Sarah Polley’s parents that is very accepting and non-judgmental. It is a fulfilling journey into family history and family secrets and tells the story of some very remarkable human beings, including Sarah Polley herself.
Larry Anklewicz. B.A., LL.B., is a lawyer, writer and film and video reviewer. Mr. Anklewicz is author of “A Guide To Jewish Films On Videos” and has been a columnist for Canada Free Press, the Canadian Jewish News, and other local newspapers. Mr. Anklewicz worked with the Toronto Jewish Film Festival for thirteen years, the last eight years of which he served as Program Coordinator and Program Director.
