HBO's The Tale mines the searing difference between trauma and memory
HBO's latest film, The Tale, delves into the world of memories and whether the human mind can manipulate these memories to make them seem more pleasant than they actually are.
Golden Globe Award-winning actress Laura Dern, plays the role of Jennifer Fox, a woman who goes through a series of life-changing events after she finds a short story from her days in middle school.
This then forces the character to think back to the first time she had sex and the stories we all, in some way and form, tell ourselves to make life better.
Dern plays an outstanding role as an accomplished documentarian who works in New York and completing her latest project which revolves around the lives of other women across the world. The character Jennifer Fox, gets a bunch of phone calls from her mother Nettie, played by Ellen Burstyn, who found a short story that Fox had written when she was thirteen.
The seemingly-innocent story she had written in her teenaged years drives her on a quest to find out the truth about what exactly happened at summer camp between her and her riding instructor Mrs. G, played by Elizabeth Debicki, and her running coach, played by Jason Ritter.
The truths that Fox finds at the end of this dark tunnel will end up being even darker and it will consequently shock her and the audience to their very core.
The Tale is the first feature from Jennifer Fox, who is a Sundance Grand Prize Winner and an Emmy nominated writer-director. Her documentary films have fans internationally and are known for being brutally honest. The HBO film is a true story based on Fox's own life and she talks about the difference between trauma and memory in the most innovative and artistic way possible.
The Tale stars Laura Dern (Big Little Lies, Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Jason Ritter (Kevin (Probably) Saves the World), Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Academy Award winner Common (Selma), Frances Conroy (American Horror Story, Six Feet Under), John Heard (The Sopranos), Elizabeth Debicki (The Night Manager), and Isabel Nélisse (Mama). The film is produced by Oren Moverman, Lawrence Inglee, Laura Rister, Jennifer Fox, Mynette Louie, Sol Bondy, Simone Pero, Regina K. Scully, Lynda Weinman; and Julie Parker Benello, Dan Cogan, Geralyn Dreyfous, Wendy Ettinger, Abigail E. Disney, Robert & Penny Fox, Jayme Lemons, Amy Rodrigue, Ali Jazayeri, Jason Van Eman, David Van Eman, Ross Marosso, and Ben McConley serve as executive producers.
The film released to wide acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20 and will premiere on HBO on May 26, 2018.