User reviews

Stories We Tell (2012) is a documentary written and directed by Sarah Polley. This movie is unusual because it's actually a biography of the filmmaker and her family, narrated by her father, "starring" her siblings and herself, along with Polley's relatives and family friends. But the film isn't straight biography or autobiography. It's a quest film as well.

Sarah's siblings and family friends begin by talking about Sarah's mother, Diane, who died, aged 55, in 1990, when Sarah was 11 . (There's some actual 8mm footage of the family, intermixed with staged footage that has the same grainy look of old amateur filmmaking.)

Sarah's mother was beautiful, and she was vivacious and fun-loving. Sarah's dad was a handsome, decent person, but no one would describe him as vivacious and fun-loving. The marriage wasn't terrible, but it was clear to the couple--and eventually to their children--that it wasn't a good match.

That much information is established in the first half-hour of the movie. Then the question arises as to whether Sarah's dad is really her biological father. Polley decides to dig for this answer, and interview the same people she's already interviewed, although this time asking the question, "Who's my father?" Polley accumulates information bit by bit, and eventually expands her search to include people who knew Diane when she was performing in a play out of town.

As Sarah embarks on this search, the camera keeps rolling, and we go along at her side. It's a fascinating ride, because everyone has part of the picture, but only two people had the answer, and one of them is no longer alive.

Stories We Tell is a quiet, careful movie. There's anger, but no shouting, sadness, but no tears. Sarah Polley is in the middle of it all, but she's credited as the director, not as the star. In a way, the star of the movie really is the late Diane Polley, but she's the one person who can't tell her side of the story. That's what makes the whole thing so fascinating.

This is a movie you will want to see if you enjoy quiet, thoughtful, serious films. It will work equally well on a small or large screen.

Sarah Polley has set the stage in mind for many years to tell a simple story. Much like the process of forming a story, things are always taken back to the storyboard and new influences are introduced. Sarah ultimately made the natural choice to deliver this story by simply setting the basis and allowing each party to tell the story as they know it, in every detail from each individual memory.

Stories We Tell works a unique twist on the documentary format and allows the audiences into the life of the family and friends who knew the filmmakers mother, Diane Polley. An eccentric ball of energy with the appearance of an open book, she might have really been a big mystery and her secrets could cause a rift throughout all those connected. Family and friends from all corners step up to the plate and what's heard are a melding of scripted order and the unscripted nature of each individual and their memories of the events that unfolded. At times it's an interview, at others it's a humorous interrogation; we witness the mystery unfolding in a truly compelling, warm and emotional fashion. It's a wonderful case study on human beings and how we shape ourselves throughout a lifetime and the events that can change our lives forever. It's fascinating to see how we all perceive moments and how our memories contain them. Different characters have different takes and yet the feelings resonate the same.

Sarah Polley took the right path and remained on the sideline and behind the camera until it was absolutely paramount. The real people tell their stories and actors portray history with an uncanny authenticity. It delivers the reality and the real people involved without bogging down the narrative. This is rich and affecting storytelling at it's finest.

Sarah Polley continues to become one of the most innovative and inventive directors working today and its proved by what she spills out on the silver screen in her newest endeavor Stories We Tell. A compelling and personal documentary about her own life, Stories We Tell blends and fuses the magic of non-fiction with the imagination of the cinematic mind.

Telling the story of her own inception, family life, and personal struggle with her own sense of being, Sarah Polley invites the audience into a world that otherwise would seem shameful and dreary but ends up rising triumphant and inspired. While documentaries often take a very serious, somber, and issue-driven approach, Polley's film proves that real life can be just as magnetic without an epiphany of theatrics or cheap camera tricks. Stories We Tell takes cinematic risks that pay off tremendously in both execution partnered with Iris Ng's stunning cinematography. This is one of the best things that the movies have offered this year yet.

When one takes on a personal subject like their family, you always run the risk of starting your film with a wall between you and the audience from the first frame. Family is one of those things that you can only appreciate when you're a part of the madness. If I sit here and tell you countless stories of brothers and sisters bickering, falling in an apple ditch, or simply the origin of our creations, a disinterest may become prevalent because what makes my story any more real than yours? Unless we have some extraordinary circumstances, family is all relative and subjective. Polley's family feels real. While there are painstakingly clear alignments between my family life and hers, the film goes beyond anything that documentaries have offered viewers before. It's not too often you grow to care about members of a family in a 108 minute stretch unless your last name is Brady, Seaver, or Winslow. It's amazing to watch one story, told from different perspectives, yielding different results and emotions. Why Polley decided to do it, I'm not so sure. Maybe it was her own way of making sense of her unfortunate hand that was dealt or perhaps it was a way of release, living with so many unanswered questions, possibly still until this day. I'm grateful she let me in to tell her story. We should all be grateful.

There are surprises, innuendos, and things that the film embraces that must be saved for anyone on the first viewing. All I can say is, Polley has likely set a new precedent and encouragement for filmmakers to do similar experiments in the future. A film such as this that follows the life of people like Jack Nicholson or Angelina Jolie would definitely build an anticipation for many to see. Stories We Tell is kind to soul and heartwarmingly relevant. A film to be remembered. The film played at this year's Montclair Film Festival and is scheduled to be released May 17, 2013.

I saw this at the Canadian top Ten Film Festival at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto in early January of 2013. It was preceded by a "Mavericks" Q&A featuring Director Sarah Polley with the Festival's Artistic Director. Polley is best known in the USA as an actress in films such as Splice. This is her third feature as director, all of which have been chosen for the Canadian Top Ten. Even though it is a documentary about her family, it is quite riveting, with more than a few surprises. The interview style, camera work and narration are both innovative and effective. One of the interviewees asked her if she has any idea what she is doing, and she said no. After you see this, I think you will disagree. Sarah Polley is one to watch . . . as a writer-director.

STORIES WE TELL is a quietly thought-provoking exposé of how difficult it can be to clarify even the simplest truths regarding human relationships and how "truth" can vary a great deal according to who you talk to, even when everyone's doing their honest best. The extended family in this documentary film is a most interesting one, and each individual member is a fascinating character in her or his own right, in spite of, perhaps because of, the fact that there is nothing truly weird about any of them. The extensive use of home video footage from the 60s, 70s, and 80s really carries the film. The small details--e.g., the father's musing on the lonely fly on the wall--are also significant, as are certain fine points in the dialogue between Director Sarah Polley and the family members she "interrogates."

Some true surprises occur during the course of the interviews; STORIES WE TELL goes deep in its own subtle, quiet way. Still, at the risk of sounding like a vulture, I was hoping for some darker--or at least more unusual or startling--revelations. While it's easy to understand why the real substance of the film--I don't want to give away the specifics--is critical stuff for Sarah Polley, it's nothing the average person hasn't seen or read in other works, factual or fictional. STORIES WE TELL also takes too long to show what it has to show. While the multiple perspectives are intriguing, they become ponderous and repetitive after a while.

In any event, this film functions well as a simple yet meaningful think-piece. Those who want a lot of variety, excitement, layers & twists, etc, however, may be a trifle bored by it.

Stories We Tell (2012)

**** (out of 4)

Incredibly documentary from filmmaker Sarah Polley who as a child heard stories that the man she thought was her father might not have been. Through interviews with friends, families and those who knew her mother, Polley tries to figure out which part of these stories were true and who exactly her father is. STORIES WE TELL is without question one of the most memorable documentaries to come around in a very long time. I think a strong argument could be made that we're living in an era that has given us so many great documentaries but this here is without question one of the very best. The main focus is to find out who Polley's father is but at the same time the film is about so much more. Just seeing what impact a simple story can have on so many people was just interesting to watch in front of us and Polley pretty much turns this into a Hitchcock thriller because you just never know what twist is going to follow. The director does a terrific job at telling this story, bouncing around from those interviewed to help complete this picture but there's also the impact that her mother's decision had on everyone. There are clips of Polley inside a studio listening to the person she grew up believing was her father tell his side of this story. Just watching her reaction to some of these spoken words was incredibly touching. Also, just being able to see how different person tells the same story and what impact this had on them at the time they heard it was something fascinating. Usually many people might ask what makes Polley's story so special that we, the viewer, should invest time in listening to it. I think what makes STORIES WE TELL so fascinating is her story itself really isn't unlike any story we've probably got in our own closet. By hearing Polley's story you really start to think about some of your own stories and how many of them might be true or lies. Polley has made a name for herself with some pretty good indie dramas but this film here is certainly her crowning achievement so far.

I watched it knowing fairly little about the film. Sarah Polley is doing a documentary. Soon into it, the audience will realize it's a documentary about Sarah's own family. It takes awhile to set up. For the first 30 minutes, my take was this is a better-than-most home movies. Then there is the shock of what this movie is actually about.

It is definitely a brave personal project for Sarah Polley. And it's important to not read any of the spoilers. It is possibly the most intriguing use of film recently. It makes you question the reality of her story, and given some personal reflection, it'll make you question the reality of your own story.

Sarah Polly's intimate and unique documentary Stories We Tell was one of last year's biggest festival and critical hits in the doco field with her fresh approach to telling a story using 8mm film to recreate the past and talking heads to tell the present hitting a chord with audiences. As one of the most critically acclaimed movies of last year hype for the movie remains strong and in that respect Stories We Tell is an overrated movie.

To get the most out of Stories one must be wholly invested in the concerns of Polly's family and the eventual revelations that come forth from her questioning and investigating of the past but if your investment is minimal as I found mine was any emotional impact the film clearly has for many is dulled and therefore the film as a whole nothing more than a slightly intriguing piece of life in all its glories and in all its hidden secrets. It must be said however that the films early stages are quite promising and downright riveting it's not until revelations are made clear that the film starts to struggle and you get the sense this is more a film for Polly herself than we the watchers.

It's nice that Polly chooses to air some very personnel and deep seeded emotions in the way of this film but one question's if what is being found out is of much benefit for someone not in the Polly family. Great documentaries like Searching for Sugarman or Dear Zachary work on emotional levels because what is being discovered as the film and participants go on is relatable in more large scale and universal ways, Stories showpiece just does not have the power to affect like this. The film also has a waft of self-importance that allows proceedings to sadly go in circles and length wise drag out to near two hours which with this format gets old fast.

Being critical as I have been, Stories is still a movie that will appeal to many a wide ranging audience and for people that may have been through similar family circumstances a tale that will really hit home. For the rest of us though Stories sadly is one of last year's more overrated documentaries and in a genre that is consistently producing the goods it will be quickly forgotten in the wave of other quality entries.

3 storytellers out of 5

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Intriguing, but not as emotionally overwhelming for the audience as it is for the storytellers. There is ever so palpable, cold detachment from the story's emotional spine. Maybe, it's because of the lack of perspective of the person who wanted this story to be out there- Sarah Polley herself. You can sense subtle reactions coming from her whenever she is on screen, for however little time, and build her point-of-view in your head. But that would be just another version of story in this baggage of different perspectives. Also, I would rather she hadn't filmed dramatized clips of real-life incidents and trust the audience's imagination.

All that being said, it does not take away anything from the fact that "Stories We Tell" is a fascinating concept. If nothing else, it works as a brilliant think-piece on subjectivity of memories and distorted truth by different perspectives.

I became aware of this film after watching Sarah Polley in Mr Nobody and it transpired that during the making of that Sarah had received news that the fact that her father was not her biological father was about to be made public. She had not informed her (step) father at that stage and had all sorts of repercussions. Partly perhaps to exorcise those demons she wrote and then featured in this documentary covering all her family and those involved in the story of her mother and her own conception. It is a remarkable tale beautifully told with resource to much family 8mm movie footage. Where there was no footage to illustrate various events such footage is immaculately reproduced. The whole works amazingly well and the viewer is engaged and moved by the immaculate telling of the story, which naturally involves many involved telling their own story. Unique.

A rather self-centred family documentary. Sarah Polley digs deep into the family relationships by uncovering its very core, the nature of her own parents.

What began as an exploration of the chemistry between her parents, unravelled into a big life changing discovery. Two very different people (her mom and dad) got together, got married and remained so until she passed away. An outgoing and lively female ends up with an introverted reserved male. Was she happy? Was she fulfilled? Was she faithful?

Whilst undoubtedly interesting, lively and stimulating it is somewhat self-centred, as I initially remarked. There seemed to be an overwhelming emphasis on her deceased mother who appeared as spotless despite two marriages, at the first of which she lost custody of her kids, and an affair that produced a child. Little prominence is given to her (supposed) father who raised her like his own and did not stop treating her as such even after it was established that the producer of this documentary is not in fact his own child.

No one of course can blame a child who was deprived of motherly love early on in life but some consideration ought to be given to the father who took part in the upbringing other than going through life considering himself to be insufficient for his former wife.

Still, it makes for an intriguing viewing.

THE STORIES WE TELL (2012)

Canadian actress, writer, director, producer Sarah Polley made an out-of-the-box documentary about her own family secret: her charming, whirlwind-of-a-woman mother, Diane Polley, died of cancer when Sarah was eleven, and it was "joked" through her childhood that Sarah's father was an actor Diane had an affair while appearing in a play in Montréal; this is confirmed by a DNA test when Sarah is twenty-seven, only it turns out to be a different man than most in her family thought it was.

In this film, Sarah interviews the four siblings she grew up with, her biological father and newfound sister, friends of her mother, including the man who was rumored to be Sarah's bio dad. At the heart of the interviews is the man who raised her, actor Michael Polley, reading a self-depricating memoir he wrote about his curmudgeonly life with Diane, (the life of the party), and scenes of Sarah having a sit-down with her biological father, movie producer and theatre director Harry Gulkin.

After recording the stories, Sarah used 8mm film to recreate the events spoken about and then wove these bits in with the interview / narratives, along with some home movies.

I liked some of the players, especially her siblings, who seemed genuinely supportive of Sarah, which is not always a trait found in families. The throughline about the man who raised her felt inauthentic and sad to me.

I appreciated the novalty of Sarah's artistic approach to working through this personal life revelation via a creative, probing documentary, however it felt both too personal, yet not personal enough to me. I would have preferred to hear Sarah's own unblanched narrative rather than her steady direction to her father to repeat lines he was reciting and snatches of her reading emails she sent to both of her fathers. I felt deflated, uncomfortable, and was not deeply moved by this film.

Actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley decides to make this film about her family history, with a particular early focus on her mother who died many years prior. In building the story of her family she draws on all those alive who were involved and this is probably as much as you want to know. Many others have put too many details in their comments without warning and I think this is unfair as this is a film that is better when you come at it without knowing everything. Polley tells this story in a way that is engaging and interesting. Early in the film one of the contributors asks "who would want to know about our family" and it is a fair question since, although it has famous members – they are really not that famous. In reality though the film is structured and delivered in such a way that, while you may not have an interest in this specific family, their story is engagingly told.

On this level I liked the film and I thought it worked well, but I have to disagree with the comments made by many in regard what it else it does. Many have praised the film for showing how stories get fragmented and twisted and how perspectives etc influence their telling and indeed Polley herself lays this out as the goal for the film when she is asked towards the end. Perhaps it is because she said it so clearly that some assumed she'd done this and perhaps it is also the reason why it stood out to me that she didn't, even though I liked what she had done with it. The problem with this goal is that, while the story over the past few decades may have been half-told, twisted and gradually revealed with different people knowing or thinking different things, in the film this is not the case at all. Indeed the thing that makes the story so engaging is that it is so well structured to be gradually delivered, be clear and be interesting on its impact on the family. Everyone contributing knows the full story and while they may have different opinions on small things or motivations of others, there really isn't something like Rashomon here where the same thing is different from different angles. There are no questions left, no doubt at any point really – we get introduced, follow the story quickly and efficiently and are left at the end with everything neatly done.

The irony is that for me the film works well like this. I enjoyed the story and how well told it was and I found the contributors to be honest, human and engaging. It is a very personal and human film and this was the quality I took from it. I still had no reason to care about this specific family over any other, but it worked nonetheless. To me it is almost a shame that Polley laid out this alternative goal because she really doesn't get anywhere near achieving it and indeed if she hadn't said anything about it I would never have guessed such an objective was ever on the table.

It works for what it is, but in terms of its own goals it is unsuccessful – but it still worked for me.

STORIES WE TELL opens with an extended shot of Michael Polley (director Sarah's father) reading out a prepared script in a recording studio, with his daughter facing him. This sequence serves as a metaphor for the entire film, which concentrates in depth on the nature of story- telling. It is fundamentally an autobiographical detective story, as Sarah interviews various members of her extended family to discover something about her late mother's life. We learn that her mother used to be an actress and performer; a vivacious soul who married Michael (a British actor) after having experienced a disastrous first marriage. Her marriage to Michael works fine for the first few years, but then things start to go wrong, and her mother ends up having an affair with film producer Harry Gulkin (one of Polley's interviewees). Michael and the family are based in Toronto; Gulkin in Montreal. As Sarah investigates more about this love-affair, she discovers something shocking about her own life that changes her perspective for ever. As she conducts her interviews, Polley realizes that different interviewees have different versions of 'the truth,' shaped not only according to their perceptions, but also by what they want to reveal on camera. Only by comparing different interviews can Polley reach at least an approximation about what 'really' happened to her mother and Gulkin, and the effect of their love-affair on Michael. One reviewer of this film has already asked "what is it REALLY about?" The answer to this question becomes clear: there is no such thing as a 'real' or 'definitive' interpretation of the past. We can only listen to different accounts, and make up our own minds, while realizing that our interpretation is no more or less definitive than other interpretations. Polley's film is both uncompromising yet sympathetic to the interviewees; sometimes they are prompted into revealing truths about themselves (which perhaps they had not previously admitted), but Polley - who appears on screen as well as directing the entire film - makes no judgment on them. This absorbing piece is essential viewing for anyone interested in the relativity of history, whether personal or otherwise.

Filmmaker/actress Sarah Polley deserves to be titled in that order, if it makes a huge difference. Yes, she's a luminous actress, but over the past 4 years and 3 films, Polley has ascended into something bigger than that... a woman crafting tremendous, personal works of art that transcend her young age.

Polley's latest film, "Stories We Tell" is a documentary, turning the lens on herself and her own family as she scalpels away at the truth of the infectious personality of mom Diane and exactly what happened in the late 70's. Using direct interviews, grainy home video footage and even actor-portrayed recreations, "Stories We Tell" charts the timeline of her family with judicious investigation. Why doesn't she look like the rest of her family? What causes a marriage to fade into boredom and familiarity? And what's the responsibility of future generations to trace the truth of past ones? All of these questions are answered in Polley's capable hands, at great personal cost to all.

In actuality, Polley has probably been answering these questions for years now. Her debut film, "Away From Her" was a moving and real depiction of a woman's slow ascent into sickness, featuring a wonderfully nuanced performance by Julie Christie and, obviously, based on the slow progression of cancer that eventually took Polley's own mother when she was just 11 years old. Last year, Polley released "Take This Waltz"... a film starring Michelle Williams as a woman torn between the comforts (and boredom) of marriage and the exciting possibility of an affair. I was on the fence about the film, amazed by certain moments of spontaneity but taken aback by the weird outbursts of Williams' character. After seeing "Stories We Tell", it's clear "Take This Waltz" was more autobiographical than anyone realized. Both films, seen as a fictional and then non-fictional rendering of the same woman- Polley's mother- compliment each other and deepen the conflicted and quizzical feelings Sarah must have about her mother. While most of us can appreciate a parent in the here and now, Polley is recreating her through grainy images, interpretive writing and tough questions.

In "Stories We Tell", a unique structure is used where her own father reads aloud from a text (we find out at the end of the film where it came from) and Polley frames the images around the meta-textual musings. It's ironic (and somehow perfect) that the most memorable images of the documentary are stationary reaction shots of Polley as she listens, her face or mouth or eyes tightening or twitching in discovery as the words are made. Not only is it a human moment, but a touching one that forces the audience to discover and relate to her own discovery. The best non-fiction works, like those of Jonathan Caouette or Ross McElwee, not only mine the potential of a great personal story but they allow us unsettling peaks behind the emotional curtain of the author or storyteller. Sarah Polley has created a brave undressing of her family that not only belongs in this class of personal docudrama, but stands head and shoulders above anything else this year so far.

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I did not know Sarahs mom and feel like I know her less. I thought it cool that they had all this archival footage, as another reviewer said, and then the only shocking part of the movie, was that it had been staged by actors. I then felt the lightbulb come on dimly, the footage felt too good to be true because it was. Over and over and over again.

Ive never taken a film course so this is personal opinion, but just as I was getting engaged in someones personal story we cut to the "archival" footage. Repetively. Even the voice over all done by Sarahs dad, is filmed while hes doing it. Emotionally I couldnt connect. Perhaps on purpose?

Its a deeply personal story told as an archival film. It feels like we are skating on thin ice looking at the story below the whole time but never really getting into the water.

Its too long. After an hour I shut it off. A few days later I finished it but kept watching the clock. And what was actually learned? Broken people make mistakes and they last a lifetime. And they can be loved. I dont feel like we ever heard Sarahs side in this and she directed it. We heard everyone else but her own voice.

This is a recommended-to-watch movie, However, there were few things missing in the story. I think the story was told too good to be true. I mean everybody seem to be happy and satisfied with what happened. No matter how Dian had been behaving irresponsible and careless towards her children, her spouses and her lover in different occasions, they all speak as if because of Dians circumstances it was all right. It appears to me that since she has died years ago, everybody is OK with the facts and nobody is complaining and doesn't remember any resentment or doesn't want to remember it.

Sarah is not taking part in telling thestory. she doesn't contribute to movie like others. she questions and directs but doesn't narrate anything herself. doesn't speak about her feelings. her point of view. all I can guess, is that she liked her mum(or maybe the story itself) enough, to edit the movie in a way that depicts everything being wonderful.

I expected something unique and intense but was disappointed. An uncommon way of mixing documentary and (kinda) fiction does take place, but that's not a new idea. I'm pretty sure I saw that before. In general, there's nothing amusing. I know that I could have cared a whole lot more about the characters if the movie was directed in a different way. I also had a sense of gaps lurking, that some scenes were missing.

Greetings again from the darkness. As a lover of indie films, I've long been an admirer of actress and director Sarah Polley. Her two feature film directorial efforts "Away From Her" and "Take This Waltz" displayed not just an eye for the camera, but more importantly, a unique story-telling vision. This time she turns and focuses her story telling skills on her own family, in what is a very intimate pull back of the curtain.

Polley takes a three-tiered documentary approach to the telling of stories associated with her mother (actress Diane Polley). Sarah intertwines interviews with her brothers, sisters and family friends with the voice recording (by her father Michael Polley) of his memoirs, and some staged Super-8 looking video of reenactments of certain events from these corresponding stories. It's a different approach and works to keep the viewer engaged, even in the slower segments.

Much has been made of the variances within the stories told by the family members. In fact, the stories all seem remarkably similar but it nonetheless is a terrific study in memories and how we come to view our version as the truth. Of course, the obvious answer is that how a memory impacts us does in fact become our truth. Within the first few minutes of the movie, one of Sarah's siblings says something along the lines of "Why would anyone care about our family?". At this point, we tend to agree with her. Even once the real story and secrets are exposed, it's not difficult to think that these stories could be replayed for numerous families throughout the globe. Sure, the Polley family has the whole showbiz thing, but for family relationships and personal secrets and associated pain, I'm not convinced there is anything extraordinary here ... other than the fantastic presentation.

The value here, other than exorcising any personal Polley demons, is with the technical brilliance Sarah shows as a documentarian and story-teller. She spends little time on camera, but we realize this is much more her own story than that of her mother (as it's set up). Clearly Michael was not fully engaged as a doting father, though that's hardly unusual. It appears their relationship comes courtesy of Sarah's commitment to making it happen ... before, during and after the big reveal. Polley's talents as a filmmaker have probably brought her family closer, despite the remaining question of exactly what her motivation was.

This film is recommended.

Michael and Diane were two very different people who fell in love. Both actors, Michael was quiet and introspective, a private person, while Diane was loud and out-going, always the life of the party.  They met, married, and raised a family. Their life story is on public display in Stories We Tell, a fascinating examination of family dynamics written and directed by their actress/director daughter, Sarah Polley. This investigative documentary uses the various viewpoints of family members and friends and their clouded memories of real events to create a cinematic tapestry of a dysfunctional family trying to come to terms with the actual truth of their family history.

Through home movies that contrast the former images of the two lovers and candid interviews by their off-springs, Stories We Tell hones in on the life and death of their mother and the direct effect on all of its' family members. Diane's past transgressions and erratic decisions seemed to complicate everyone's life before and after her death, making many of the brothers and sisters question their own relationships with their parents. As with time, memory and reality blurs and the truth remains elusive. The past and present ultimately collide in this documentary of hidden affairs, divorce, and questionable paternity issues. As the filmmaker delves into her mother's mysterious past to find clear-cut answers, it takes a toll on each family member.

Stories We Tell gets to be almost too personal in its message, relying on conjecture and here- say to form its narrative structure. The subject matter is always interesting but too limited in scope. On one hand, one almost feels voyeuristic in experiencing this film. Yet, the filmmaking is expertly assembled and must have been cathartic for some of the family and seen as an embarrassment by others.

That said, Ms. Polley has made a well-crafted film with strong editing techniques, effectively blending the footage of the interviewees speaking movingly about the emotional damage cast upon them with the many happier family images that haunt their recollections. (Particularly ironic is the inclusion of a segment with Diane singing Ain't Misbehavin'.)  Stories We Tell tells its story very well. Whether you are interested in hearing it may be another story in itself. GRADE: B

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