Laura Dern, Common, Isabelle Nélisse, Burstyn, Debicki and Ritter all give strong, convincing, performances in this film, creating these strong relationships between these diverse characters. This is a powerful drama, well written, directed and acted.

| Original Score: A | Feb 18, 2023

...that she will always be damaged and telling herself a story to cope.

| Original Score: 78/100 | Aug 22, 2021

On how abuse comes not in the guise of the obviously monstrous, but through the beautiful, deceitful object of affection.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 29, 2021

This is no sanitised version of events. This is harsh reality laid bare - unsparing, unstinting.

| Mar 9, 2021

Perhaps it's too much to ask of such a raw and brutally honest film that it deal with resolution as complexly as it does with instigation.

| Jul 1, 2020

The resulting work, which Fox calls "issue-based fiction," resonates as both art and a vehicle for change.

| Aug 5, 2019

By emphasising how little Fox could trust her memory, The Tale forces us to discern that when someone is assaulted, so is their mind - blocking their own memories becomes not only their language, but also their instant cure.

| Jul 17, 2019

The Tale is a deeply personal and at times hard-to-watch story of a woman coming to terms with her own sexual assault as a child.

| Original Score: 9/10 | May 15, 2019

An extraordinary piece of storytelling and a daring confessional. You've seen nothing like it before.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 12, 2019

The Tale is a powerful film that would get greater accolades if released widely

| Jan 19, 2019

Jennifer Fox's autobiographical debut makes for harrowing but essential viewing.

| Dec 19, 2018

The Tale is distressing and compelling, a film for the #MeToo movement that reckons with personal relationships and inflicted trauma.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 19, 2018

The framing of what happened to Jenny is flexible, expansive, interested in complication; the perspective is enigmatic, deeply personal, at once singular and manifold, insular and diffuse.

| Dec 7, 2018

Dern has never been better than she is here in this film. It's a stunning achievement, made all the more powerful by the fact that she's interpreting the filmmaker's worst moments in life.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 12, 2018

The Tale deeply understands and conveys the emotional cartwheels the mind does to victims as they reframe their narrative.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 30, 2018

The Sundance favorite brings a harrowing story out of the shadows.

| Oct 25, 2018

While The Tale is a fictionalized version of Fox's story, it's not hard to believe a lot of conversations are recounted verbatim. Some things are unforgettable.

| Original Score: 89/100 | Oct 12, 2018

I hope that The Tale helps a lot of the people who watch it: to heal, to grieve, to seek justice, to vent their fury.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 12, 2018

You feel the presence of the real Jennifer Fox because she's directing it, and it's her story...It's a really fascinating, very difficult-to-watch movie.

| Aug 28, 2018

For Fox, and for all of us, The Tale is a spot in time worth finding.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 27, 2018