CinemaClown A distressing, disquieting & devastating self-portrait that's right up there with some of the most upsetting films ever made, The Tale is an unflinchingly raw, immensely brave & powerfully affecting account of the director's own past that's brought to life with deft touch & unapologetic honesty, and features an unforgettable performance from Laura Dern.

BoredNow33 Wow. Not an easy movie to watch at all. But it is such a necessary movie to watch for survivors of this type of situation. I also did not want to admit I had been a victim. I wanted to feel it was a consensual act. Looking back on my childhood as an adult makes me sick. Thinking about the older men who showed interest in me when I was 12, 13, 14... When I was that age, I was flattered. An older man liked me and paid attention to me. Now as an adult, I can't imagine looking at a child in such a way. The fact that Jennifer Fox was willing to share her experience this openly is amazing. I don't know that I could expose myself that way. There was a large lump in my chest the whole movie and I was definitely moved to tears and spent a lot of time reflecting on some of my experiences as a child afterwards, but the fact that the predator was such an attractive and nice person outwardly needed to be conveyed as they usually have greasy hair or are balding and are easy for the viewer to identify as untrustworthy. Is it a movie one would need to watch over and over? No. But it is definitely worth one watch. If for nothing more than Isabelle Nélisse. She is an amazing young actress and I can't wait to see her in future movies.

thedarkknight-99999 The plot is very messy and incoherent. This is the only issue I have with The Tale, but it's definitely a grave one. I won't be lying if I said that sometimes I couldn't even tell what was Jennifer, our protagonist, wanted to know, or what she was trying to discover. All I wanted is a specific aim, and that shouldn't have been hard to achieve. But there are so many things that can redeem this film. All the performances are great; Elizabeth Debicki is wonderful as Jennifer's riding teacher, and I didn't even realize that she has these masterful acting abilties. Laura Dern is very good as Jennifer, but I think Isabelle Nélisse who played the same character at the age of 13 is the real star in this movie. She excellently balanced between the innocence and the cruelty; as the movie mixed between the past and the present.By the way, this is one of the most important things that made this movie so intense. Jennifer Fox, as a director, used the technique of mixing the past with the present to create some sort of an unsettling atmosphere that made this movie so difficult to watch. Also, there is a particular scene in which this technique was used, that I consider as the best scene of the movie, and one of the best movie scenes this year so far.Another great decision the director made is retelling Jennifer's story every time she discovers something new about her past. That made me that every new piece of information is like a clever twist.There are plenty of moments that will make you feel nervous. Moments that will put you into Jennifer's shoes, and make you keep wondering what this character will do to her? what this character's answer will be like? Is this is even the truth? As you can see there are many great things in terms of the directing, and that means that Jennifer Fox's directorial debut is very successful. But it's her writing abilities that need to be developed.(7/10)

jchaverr I have seen some reviews in which they completely destroy this film (they don't get it and probably will never will). It is a good work and must have been a painful one for the director. I am glad that she made it though. Seeing how her opinion of these two abusers evolves throughout the movies must be what most victims of child sexual abuse go through. In some cases must people blocks those memories, in her case she distort them to think that she was been loved....It is a sad world when a kid cannot be just a kid, because there are predators out there ready to pounce on them.