Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

An action-packed slog

Absolutely amazing

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

I had high hopes for this, considering the actors involved and the fact that it was produced by HBO. But I couldn't believe how badly made it was.This should have been an emotionally wrenching story of a woman coming to grips with the fact that she was repeatedly raped as a child by an adult she trusted. Instead, it plays more like an ABC After School Special. None of the characters have any depth or layers. I felt as if I were watching a rehearsal for the finished film. One of the problems is in the writing. Scenes just seem to exist for the purpose of conveying information, but no one seems invested. Viewers should be terrified and repulsed by Jason Ritter's character, but I found him to be dull and predictable. Even Ellen Burstyn appears to be picking up a paycheck and nothing else. Only John Heard, in the film's only honest moment at the end, comes off as real. I cared about what was going through his mind. All the other scenes were like those bad industrial films they showed you in high school.The director (and writer), Jennifer Fox, has no point of view. And that's the main problem. Had a more competent director and writer helmed this project, I may have felt what these characters were supposed to feel - completely drained at the end. Instead, I felt like an important story was given the Cliffs Notes version.

When reviewing a film like "The Tale", I want to be careful in quantifying some of my statements. In an era in which women are much more empowered to tell their stories of abuse (sexual or otherwise) and confront their tormentors, movies like this are important to be made/seen. Even more unique/impressive is the fact that director & writer Jennifer Fox is actually telling her own story in this case. As such, despite the fact that I didn't find "The Tale" to perhaps be as gripping as I thought it could/should, I would never say it isn't important or made from a well-meaning place.For a basic plot summary, "The Tale" tells the story of Jennifer (Laura Dern), a videographer who out-of-the-blue is drawn back into her past where as a 13-year old (played by Isabelle Nelisse) she was sexually coerced/assaulted by her track and field coach Bill (Jason Ritter). All the while, her equestrian mentor Mrs. G (Elizabeth Debicki) sat back and let it happen, while mother Nettie (Laura Allen & Ellen Burstyn) never quite put all the pieces together until it was far too late. Now an adult, Jennifer must deal with those events in order to feel authentic in front of her classes of students.In terms of overall material and the emotion it contains, this is an excellent and heartbreaking film. It pulls absolutely no punches and really feels authentic (the costumes/sets of the 70s add realism). In short, the production value here is wonderful, as befitting a film with HBO backing.My main problem with "The Tale", however, is that I felt the narrative tricks it used to tell the story were at best confusing and at worse distracting from the overall emotion of the piece. There are times where grown-up Jennifer will converse with young-Jennie, as well as other cross-time interactions that obviously aren't actually happening but are portrayed as Jennifer's inter-ruminations. Instead of deepening the emotion for me, what this ended up doing was confusing what the overall take-home message of the film was supposed to be. I really struggled to get much past "it was a horrible/wrong thing to have happen" even though I know Fox is hinting at more deeper themes.One standout of the whole thing, though, is Dern absolutely acting her heart out in every scene she is in. None of my narrative confusion can be pinned on the acting in this one, as I found it to be really solid and, in Dern's case, spectacular. It's amazing to think that she has been working almost nonstop since Jurassic Park!So, overall I put "The Tale" at 6/10 stars, with the caveat that I think the importance of what is being conveyed throughout the film likely transcends how objectively "good" it actually ends up being.

Seen a review talking about movie being beautiful exploration into a subject that is all to often dealt with extremely heavy handily. That comment made me want to puke.There is so much child abuse now days and usually it is dealt with by a slap on the hand. This woman was having many issues mentally and she is the lucky one. Now days many children are murdered.I did enjoy the film it did keep my interest but also mad me sad and mad. Laura Dern did a great job acting in this film as did the rest of the actors.

Very well plotted, this was a powerful tale that I won't get out of my head for a very long time. It's completely relevant to the #metoo era that we're living through now.