Movieo
Poster for Stories We Tell

Stories We Tell

2012 · 1h 49m · PG-13 Documentary
Directed by Sarah Polley

Seen it?

Overview

Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends whose reliability varies depending of their implication in the events, which are remembered in different ways; so a trail of questions remains to be answered, because memory is always changing and the discovery of truth often depends on who is telling the tale.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
94%
Tomatometer
Fresh

If a personal memoir film by a beautiful, successful young woman from a nice Toronto family sounds to you like it can only be an excuse for self-absorbed navel-gazing, well, you must not have seen a Sarah Polley movie yet.

Dana Stevens, Slate
Fresh

Stories We Tell is one of those movies you watch on a screen and replay in your head for days, moving between its many levels of inquiry and touched, always, by Polley's compassion toward her relatives in particular and people in general.

Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Rotten

he opposite of a courageous piece of work, Stories We Tell goes out of its way to protect every single person it touches.

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Fresh

Sarah Polley's remarkable Stories We Tell transcends every cliche in this confessional/investigatory genre, and it's one of the year's highlights.

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Fresh

Everyone has a different story. I found myself holding my breath listening to them talk. The story twists like a thriller.

Cath Clarke, Time Out

Comments

Talk about the film with other members

More films