Review of Stories We Tell (2012) by Jean-Francois B — 19 Sep 2014

Interesting subject but left me with one question:

Where's the anger?

A woman leaves behind her a trail of lies and deception.

First by failing to protect the children of her first marriage (because of the controling husband and retarded court system). Then by cheating on her second husband (his fault, for being "a dead wombat" in bed) and then by lying about the fatherhood of the lovechild (because Hubby is not giving her the love she deserves). And nobody's angry at her? The closest we get to the subject of parental responsability is when Mark is being interviewed and talks about her falure to protect her kids; and interestingly he chokes up and that's the end of that. Throughout the movie she is cast as a victim and that made me quite uncomfortable. By Michael's own admission, how much does it mean to share a good portion of one's life with someone, namely 25 years? And consequently, how much would it hurt to be lied to for half of that time, on the subject of your own fatherhood no less? Well, didn't seem to make him hurt nor angry...

I don't buy it. I still liked the movie, it's got a good deep subject, had me thinking about it afterwards. It's just too bad that we're missing a whole angle.