Stories We Tell (2012) on Netflix
PG-1320121h 48mDocumentary
A daughter interviews her father, Michael Polley, her siblings and family friends about her parents' marriage. Her mother, Diane, died years earlier, and the memories do not agree.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.5/1014,747 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
Relatives, old family friends and her siblings from her mother's two marriages are asked to describe the same marriage, and each account differs. Her father, Michael Polley, sits for the camera and also reads aloud from a memoir he wrote. Between the interviews, footage shot on Super-8 to resemble old home movies restages episodes from the family's past, with actors in the parts. Her mother, Diane, died of cancer in 1990. Her father and siblings have long treated one subject as a family joke, one that began casually when she was thirteen. The project took shape over five years, with many breaks in between.
Cast
- Michael Polleyas Himself - Storyteller
- Harry Gulkinas Himself - Storyteller
- Susy Buchanas Herself - Storyteller
- Mark Polleyas Himself - Storyteller
- Joanna Polleyas Herself - Storyteller
- Cathy Gulkinas Herself - Storyteller
- Marie Murphyas Herself - Storyteller
- Robert MacMillanas Himself - Storyteller
- Anne Taitas Herself - Storyteller
- Deirdre Bowenas Herself - Storyteller
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Stories We Tell (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
The film looks at the relationship between Polley's parents, Michael and Diane Polley, including the revelation that the filmmaker was the product of an extramarital affair between her mother and the Montreal producer Harry Gulkin.SPOILER
In a blog post on the NFB.ca website, Polley revealed that several journalists, including Brian D. Johnson and Matthew Hays, had known about the story of her biological father for years but respected her wish to keep the matter private until she was ready to tell it in her own words.- Polley's mother Diane, re-created in the film's Super-8 sequences by the actress Rebecca Jenkins, had died of cancer on 10 January 1990, the week of Polley's 11th birthday.
