The Tale

A distressing, disquieting & devastating self-portrait that's right up there with some of the most upsetting films ever made, The Tale is an unflinchingly raw, immensely brave & powerfully affecting account of the director's own past that's brought to life with deft touch & unapologetic honesty, and features an unforgettable performance from Laura Dern.

I've never written a review in my life, but anyone who has been touched by child sexual abuse get ready to feel bombarded. The shame, the confusion, the guilt, even the secret feelings of being "special"....they're all in there. This film was both hard to watch and hard to look away from. The acting is superb and the flow of dialogue realistic. A cautionary tale for anyone with children.

Jennifer Fox (Laura Dern) is a globe-trotting documentarian. She's engaged to Martin (Common) for the past 3 years and they're both often away for work. She teaches documentary filmmaking at a college. Her mother (Ellen Burstyn) is desperate to contact her after finding her old writing assignment. The memories of a childhood relationship resurface. She slowly investigates the scattered pieces of recollections. During the 70's, Jenny (Isabelle Nélisse) was a shy girl at 13. Her parents were fighting and she felt invisible. She worshipped her horse riding coach Mrs. G (Elizabeth Debicki). Mrs. G and running coach Bill Allens (Jason Ritter) were having an affair. They pulled Jenny into their secret relationship of which Bill took advantage.

This HBO film tells a devastating tale. Laura Dern's performance is a nice growth from denial to realization. It's all on her face like when her student recounts her first sexual experience. Other standouts include Nélisse as the young Jenny and Jason Ritter. Nélisse is perfectly innocent and Ritter uses his personable charms to deviate from the normal creep trope. It's quite horrific. Obviously, this is a personal movie for filmmaker Jennifer Fox. It would have added to the reality of the movie if young Jenny read the assignment writing at the beginning of the movie. Better yet if young Jenny read Jennifer Fox's actual letter. It would be that much more poignant. Overall, this is devastating personal tale with a great performance.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"The Tale" (2018) had an amazing acting by both leads - Laura Dern and the girl who played as a young her and as well as superb directing. Script was good, but considering that it is a real story and the one who wrote the script and directed this movie is the one the movie about (!) - this gives a different wight for the whole picture. And given the hard subject, this movie handled it very well and intriguingly.

Overall, i really enjoyed "The Tale" not because of its hard subject, but because of how well it was told. This is a really good movie in all directions.

This film tells the story of a woman who realises what happened to her when she was a teenager.

It is a story that has a lot of impact on the viewer because of the disturbing subject matter. The story is engaging, and the portrayal of the grooming process is very detailed. It is a sad story, but it is a story that needs to be told, so that people will be vigilant if it happens again.