As kids, many of us saw our parents as almost mythic creatures. They were The Authority. They set the rules, they provided for us. In some sense, they were gods. But as we grew up, we began to realize our parents' flaws. This stage in life is the subject of countless coming-of-age stories that typically end with the teen or tween hero seeing their parent(s) as human, flawed but worthy of love. Still, even as adults, it can be hard to comprehend some of our parents' weaknesses or mistakes. And this exists at the center of Sarah Polley's latest film.
To date, Polley has drawn praise not only as an actress but also as a writer-director, creating such challenging dramas as Away from Here and Take This Waltz. But her new film, Stories We Tell, is a documentary wherein this introspective auteur looks unflinchingly at her own life and that of her parents, warts and all. See what family secrets she unearths in the documentary's latest trailer below, or see it in hi-res at Apple.
Turning the lens on her own family and friends, Polley looks to explore the life of the late mother she never got to know. Diane Polley was also an actress, but died when Sarah was only 11 years old. After that Sarah was raised solely by her father Michael Polley, but—as the trailer above points out—began to fear he was not her biological father.
How would investigating this painful possibility impact their relationship? That seems to be at the core of this doc, along with Sarah's search to understand her long-gone mother. As both father and daughter played key roles on the exceptional theater-company centered dramedy series Slings and Arrows, this quest to understand an actress who may have fallen hard for a co-star is an odd but enchanting example of life imitating art. Or vice versa.
Stories We Tell will open in New York on May 10th; a limited theatrical release will follow on May 17th.
