Movie Review

Memoir movie 'The Tale' explores the grey areas around child sexual abuse

You'll struggle to find a film that's more difficult to watch, yet more important to get through, than director Jennifer Fox's powerful autobiographical tale

22 July 2018 - 00:00 By yolisa mkele
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In 'The Tale' Laura Dern plays a woman who has to confront what really happened to her 13-year-old self, played by Isabelle Nélisse, at the hands of her much older running coach.
In 'The Tale' Laura Dern plays a woman who has to confront what really happened to her 13-year-old self, played by Isabelle Nélisse, at the hands of her much older running coach.
Image: Supplied

You are going to struggle to find a film more difficult to watch yet more important to get through than director Jennifer Fox's The Tale.

Starring Laura Dern, Isabelle Nélisse, Elizabeth Debicki and Jason Ritter, it is the deeply unsettling autobiographical story of Fox's experience with child sexual abuse, the denial it engendered and how a change in perspective can upend one's whole world.

The Tale begins when a story that Fox (played by Laura Dern) wrote when she was 13 about what she thought was a "relationship" with an older boyfriend resurfaces. What unfolds is the realisation that this boyfriend was in fact decades older than the pubescent Fox and she has to grapple with the fact that this was not a relationship as she had thought, but sexual abuse.

Contrary to what some may think about her decision to make such a personal film, the impulse to shoot it came quite naturally to Fox.

It "came to me through conversations with friends in South Africa during which suddenly this word 'sexual abuse' was being used to describe situations similar to mine. The minute I realised that what I'd experienced wasn't a relationship, it was abuse, I almost simultaneously wanted to make a film about it," said Fox. Making films is how she grapples with issues in life, she said.

The sex scenes in The Tale are part of what makes the viewing experience so difficult. One of Fox's prerequisites for making the film was being able to shoot the sex scenes, which depict her middle-aged running coach (played by Ritter) abusing 13-year-old Fox (Nélisse).

"What made these scenes so important was that I didn't want to turn away from the ordinary horror of it all," said Fox.

I didn't want to turn away from the ordinary horror of it all ...  I don't think many people can imagine just how ordinarily horrible it is to see a grown person with a child. It was so painful to me that it made me vomit
Director Jennifer Fox on her decision to include sex scenes in 'The Tale'

"Most films fade to black and you are left to imagine what actually happened, but in fact I don't think many people can imagine just how ordinarily horrible it is to see a grown person with a child. It was so painful to me that it made me vomit," said Fox.

The reality of shooting the scenes, however, was very different to the way they came out on screen.

"It was very important that the child actress Isabelle Nélisse protected. So Jason Ritter only worked with a body double who is an adult woman with the young Isabelle's general proportions," said Fox.

Nélisse's shots in those moments were not shot with Ritter but were edited together with the adult actor's scenes later. The young actress's mother as well as a child psychologist, a representative from the Screen Actors Guild and her dog were all on set with her and every care was taken to ensure her comfort.

WATCH | The trailer for The Tale

In creating this project Fox was not looking to set up the usual good vs evil dichotomy. Instead she was trying, through her own experiences, to show that, for survivors of abuse, there is a lot of grey area.

"I hope the film opens up a grey zone where people see that a child can feel love and be abused. That both can exist simultaneously and that doesn't take away from the fact that it was abuse and that it should be stopped," said Fox.

I hope the film opens up a grey zone where people see that a child can feel love and be abused ... [but that] that doesn't take away from the fact that it was abuse and  should be stopped
Director Jennifer Fox

"Often when we try to save the child we try to erase the positive that they got from the relationship. In that way we often wound them again because we are not acknowledging that they may have been seeking something in the first place and that is how they were lured into that position," she said.

Complexity seems to be the overarching theme in The Tale, whether it relates to memory, denial or the existence of two seemingly disparate emotions that relate to one ordinarily horrible set of events involving one person. The discussion around denial can take a tack that may be viewed as contrary to received wisdom.

"Denial is a really useful tool to help survive, and ultimately that is what human beings need to do, survive. Denial can be a good strategy for survival - that is the complexity. Typical psychology might say 'You have to face the truth' but in fact sometimes facing the truth can destroy someone if they are not ready," said Fox.

"So the fact that I denied what happened to me for all of those years was an unconscious strategy to survive, and that's OK and good. I appreciate that about myself. I appreciate the survival skills of my child self now when I look back."

Ultimately, though, everyone is different and deals with their trauma in different ways. With The Tale, Fox is trying to bring child sexual abuse out of the corner it is hiding in and shed light on it in the hope that healing will result.

Whether or not she achieves that result depends on the viewer, but it is an important conversation to have and her film is a sterling contribution to that discourse.

If you are a survivor of sexual abuse and need someone to talk to, please visit thetalemovie.com, where you will find a number of South African and global resources to tap into.

• 'The Tale' airs on DStv channel 104 on August 6 at 10pm.


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