Polley is hardly a novice when it comes to untangling knotty personal narratives in front of an audience. . There was an intense claustrophobia involved, and I often felt like, OK, Ive processed this stuff personally, so what the hell am I doing continuing to make this film about this topic and having to go into it every day?. "In December 2009, I made a film to be aired during the Academy Awards that I believed was to promote the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The filmmaker Atom Egoyan, who directed Polley in his movies Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter, said that not even his long friendship and past collaborations with her had fully prepared him for what he read in early drafts of her book. A snap of Sarah and Michael shows them smiling alongside a tall snowman they had created: an image of playful togetherness. In the film, Polley breaks up her father's narration with interviews conducted with other members of her family. We break the ice not that there is much to break with talk of Toronto. Diane Polley Diane was Sarah's mother and unfortunately passed away from cancer in 1990. Its been more than six years since Sarah Polley was struck on the head by a fire extinguisher, one that was unwisely hung over a lost-and-found box at her local community center, leaving her with a debilitating concussion. Who in Washington Will Earn Respect and Trust. She was previously married to Michael Polley and George Deans-Buchan. I was hiring her as an actress. (Polley divorced her first husband in 2008 and remarried in 2011. As I get older, Im realizing its OK for stories to be messy or go down circuitous paths that dont lead anywhere., She added, We create these clean narratives to make sense of our basically bewildering lives. All of which makes the stories Sarah Polley tells in Stories We Tell an enormously intriguing lot. She finds it "nerve-racking" to think anyone might find her wanting. [21] The show was picked up by the Disney Channel for distribution in the United States. She died of cancer the week of Polley's 11th birthday. I tell Sarah I have been speculating about Michael's writing and her film-making and wondering: were they each driven by the same need to control out-of-control experience? Stories We Tell opened in US theatres on 10 May 2013 and is rated PG13. ", Whatever the friendly difference of opinion about wedlock, the remarkable thing is that when pressed about her family's reaction to Stories We Tell, Sarah reveals that everyone is happy with the film and has been "supportive". What was really going on?. She served as a member of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival jury.[27]. And then she relates how Michael made a speech that "sounded like it would go somewhere really nice, then didn't. Its completely unlike any other film Ive seen.. There is just this messiness to the human experience thats extraordinarily inconvenient if youre trying to tell one story about it, she said. What is moving is how keenly everyone feels the loss of Diane, more than 20 years on. But it is. But over a period of nearly four years, she recuperated, emerging with restored focus and with an upgraded philosophical outlook that has infused nearly every aspect of her life. Dainty as a dancer, she is wearing a blue denim jacket, a scarlet shirt and sneakers to match. And why is memory a teasing resource? Polley discovered as an adult that her biological father was actually Harry Gulkin, with whom her mother had an affair (as chronicled in Polley's film Stories We Tell). The film is a thought inspiring , mix of a documentary that examines how we construct personal narratives and shows Polley struggling with her own shocking news. Diane Polley died on January 10, 1990, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada of cancer. We became very close." "The result here is a more intricate self-portrait, since Diane's affairwhich Polley's search unearths and Run Towards the Danger is out next month. Diane Polley was used to harsh judgment. Its different if somebody else is indiscreet about you.. In the film, that is what Sarahdoes. Michael quotes Pablo Neruda: "Love is so short, forgetting so long." She already has a classy track record as a film director. And it is complicated because, in a family, as Polley points out, everyone is "committed" to their own version of the truth. In a strange way, I contributed to that, he said. Oscar-nominee's new film solves the riddle of her birth, By Brian D. Johnson By Dave Itzkoff. This entry, titled Alice, Collapsing, is one that Polley said shed made multiple attempts at completing since she was 19. Sarah Polley at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills. And then she turns to me: do I have a family secret? In the same year, she starred in a lead role in the remake of Dawn of the Dead, which was a departure from her other indie roles. Hopefully, over time, we can loosen our iron grip and let other complexities in., https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/books/sarah-polley-run-towards-the-danger.html, As I get older, Sarah Polley said, Im realizing its OK for stories to be messy or go down circuitous paths that dont lead anywhere.. Canadian actress, film director and screenwriter, Western University (2018). Sarah Ellen Polley OC (born January 8, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker, political activist and retired actress. But I made the film to have agency in how the story was going to be told. Documentaries dont usually require spoiler alerts. When actress mom Diane Polley died, Sarah was just eleven. Yet the pressure was on because I wanted to get it all right and authentic for Sarah and the story that was unfolding for her.. She encourages her family to speak. Part of this is figuring out, what the hell happened?. Mum was adventuresome but trapped, says . "And Dad joked about it.". What got me interested was my fathers unusual and unexpected response to the news. Genealogy profile for Diane Elizabeth Polley. Like a father surveying his family from the head of a dining table, he reads aloud, savouring the narrative. Indiewire called it the finest of Polleys filmmaking skills while New York Magazines David Edelstein referred to Polley as a gifted actress and possibly more gifted writer-director.. And then Sarah tells me at my prompting about her last memory of her mother: "A few days before she died and just before she went into a coma, I remember Dad dancing with her to Blue Spanish Eyes one of her favourite songs. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. The revelation of Polleys true parentage landed her in bed for two weeks, ill with a long fever. I like bold gestures that aren't necessarily backed up by statistics. I thrive on too-intimate conversations with people, she said. Diane Polley was used to harsh judgment. Most people who lose a parent dont get that opportunity that was an amazing experience to get to know her better.. Signup for our newsletter to get notified about our next ride. The youngest of five children born to actress Diane Polley, Sarah learned that she was the product of an affair her mother had with a Montreal movie producera secret Diane took to her grave when she died of cancer just after Sarahs 11th birthday. Every other ramshackle shop seems to be attempting to evolve into an art gallery. Before she had the idea of the film, Polley said, I wasnt interested in exposing myself. A talented actress ("The Sweet Hereafter") turned gifted director ("Away From Her," "Take This Waltz"), she initially structures "Stories We Tell" as an attempt to discover more about her mother,. She also talked to Michael Polley and her biological father, along with other family and friends affected by the news. At 15, she moved in with a boyfriend and, at 16, she was living on her own with "lots of rotting potatoes under the sink and a lack of life skills". When Sarah was 11 years old, Diane died of cancer. Im very open and I dont have a lot of secrets, but who doesnt have some? Buchan said. [8][9], Her mother was an actress (best known for playing Gloria Beechham in 44 episodes of the Canadian TV series Street Legal) and a casting director. Polley's subsequent role as Nicole Burnell in the 1997 film The Sweet Hereafter brought her considerable attention in the United States; she was a favourite at the Sundance Film Festival. His quirky, engagingly self-deprecatory commentary contributes hugely to the film's charm. There were all these weird discrepancies in the stories, and we were also all so invested in telling it. So does she see marriage as a doomed enterprise? Like his siblings, he felt skeptical that anyone outside the family would care about the story, but he was also energized by the experience. He'd speak to you with respect. In 2012 Polley's daughter Sarah directed a film about her own birth, after having confirmed, as an adult, that her conception was the result of an affair her mother had. Get our L.A. [6] [7] In 2022 she wrote and directed the film Women Talking earning her second Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. [68] Polley was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 30, 2013.[69]. She listens more than she talks. I did get to spend so much time with everybody my mom was close to and ask them for hours uninterrupted about what she was like, she said. Disney executives asked her to remove it, and she refused. Her first career was an actor. I think its a lot to absorb and kinda difficult.. She is nervous (biting her lower lip) and vulnerable (apologising for fluffing the song's last line). But its kind of exhilarating, realizing that whatever story youve been telling about yourself and everyone tells those stories isnt you. But Polleys choice to share herself in Run Towards the Danger did not make him anxious in the same way, and he praised her for taking the risk and acknowledging her own vulnerability. Before marrying Michael Polley, she was front-page news when she left her first husband and became the first Canadian mother to lose custody of her children (Sarahs half-sister and brother). 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Jordan Michael B. Handsome at Walk of Fame ceremony. They divorced five years later, in 2008. All families, she suggests, do.