Stories We Tell
A playful, poignant family investigation reveals how memory, performance, and love collaborate to create personal truth.
Overview
A personal exploration of family secrets and the stories that bind us together.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- thoughtful
- warm
- nostalgic
- reflective evening
- documentary night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised Sarah Polley's inventive documentary form and compelling exploration of memory, storytelling, and family truth.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Family members provide differing and sometimes incompatible accounts of shared events and family mythology.
Sarah Polley appears as filmmaker and investigator while exposing the constructed nature of interviews, reenactments, and memory.
Polley investigates unanswered questions surrounding her mother, her family history, and her biological father.
Nostalgia-tinged family recollections are presented through recreated home-movie imagery that blurs documentary evidence and performance.
Films like Stories We Tell, and why
The Arbor
reflexive documentary form, family memory, and an emotionally layered investigation into personal truth
F for Fake
inventive nonfiction storytelling, contested recollections, and intimate family history
Tarnation
autobiographical documentary inquiry, unreliable testimony, and the construction of identity through memory
Time Indefinite
warmly personal family portrait shaped by recollection, storytelling, and unresolved emotional history
Movie Details
- Director
- Sarah Polley
- Release Date
- 2012-10-12
- Runtime
- 109 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (239)
Cast
- Michael Polley
- Harry Gulkin
- Susy Buchan
- John Buchan
- Mark Polley
- Joanna Polley
- Cathy Gulkin
- Marie Murphy
- Robert MacMillan
- Anne Tait
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel, Howdy Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Stories We Tell about?
- A playful, poignant family investigation reveals how memory, performance, and love collaborate to create personal truth.
- What is Stories We Tell like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Stories We Tell as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Stories We Tell violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Stories We Tell.
- What did critics think of Stories We Tell?
- Critics broadly praised Sarah Polley's inventive documentary form and compelling exploration of memory, storytelling, and family truth.
- Which films are like Stories We Tell?
- Films with a similar feel include The Arbor, F for Fake, Tarnation, and Time Indefinite.
- How long is Stories We Tell?
- Stories We Tell runs 109 minutes.
- Where can I watch Stories We Tell?
- In United States, Stories We Tell streams on Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel, Howdy Amazon Channel.
