THE TALE

“The Tale” (USA, 2018) by Jennifer Fox tells the director’s own story. Jennifer, a documentary filmmaker in her late forties, played by Laura Dern, is sent an essay by her mother that she wrote at the age of thirteen. It is about a summer at a riding stable, about the riding instructor Mrs. G and the running coach Bill – and about a “relationship” the girl described at the time as a love story. Jennifer starts investigating, tracks down those involved, and has to trade the version she has told herself for decades, piece by piece, for what actually happened.

Fox, a documentary filmmaker until then, makes memory itself the narrative form of her first feature film: the girl in the film contradicts the adult woman, and scenes are repeated in corrected versions. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018. It was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2018, in the Sundance Night section.

Shown at the 2018 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2018 · Film Archive