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She had five kids, commuted to work and yet she slept so little. Everything about her, including her handshake, has a lightness of touch like her work. That only gets enhanced when her brothers and sisters drop one story on Sarah they might not tell someone else. 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. But this film is a shock because its such a sophisticated piece of filmmaking, he added, both in terms of the ambition and the success with which its able to deploy this very original idea. [7] In 2022 she wrote and directed the film Women Talking earning her second Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. Polley had five children, several of whom followed their parents into theatre, including her youngest, actor and director Sarah Polley.. In 1996, she gave a nomination speech for Kormos at the ONDP leadership convention which she later referred to as the "proudest moment in [her] life".[48]. In its first chapter, Run Towards the Danger offers a melancholy reflection on Polleys teenage struggles with scoliosis, her body horror juxtaposed with several anxious, frustrating months spent playing the lead in a Stratford Festival production of Alice Through the Looking Glass. Her mother died of cancer when Polley was 11; her father sank into a depression and by age 14 the author had left home to move in with an older brothers ex-girlfriend and largely figure out the world for herself. [4], While working as a casting director Polley helped discover the comedy group The kids in the hall, and later guest starred on their show. Mum was adventuresome but trapped, says . When actress mom Diane Polley died, Sarah was just eleven. Michael Polley was jolted into restarting a long-dormant writing career, penning nearly 80 pages of copy with details of the story from his perspective. Two days after her 11th birthday, Sarah Polley lost her mother to cancer. She fills me in on an "epic disaster of the mayor who has been accused of smoking crack" (he denies it) but otherwise describes the city as "diverse, tolerant, multicultural". What is different is that she is hospitably voluble. "The result here is a more intricate self-portrait, since Diane's affairwhich Polley's search unearths and Was it worth my feeling like my life was at risk and people didnt care enough about it? she said. He wound up saying that when he married, in 1967, his one hope was that his children would never feel they had to participate in something so absurd. One shop promises to waylay passers by and teach them how to knit. [58], On October 15, 2017, Polley wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times detailing her experience with Harvey Weinstein and with Hollywood's treatment of women generally, and making a connection between Hollywood's gendered power relations and Polley's not having acted in years. But after years of reconsideration, Polley said during our interview, I felt a deep, ethical obligation, especially to the women who came forward in that case, to tell that story, and a deep haunting that I wasnt able to tell it sooner. (Ghomeshi didnt respond to requests for comment sent to Roqe Media, where he hosts a podcast and serves as chief executive. The officiator just said: never mind." The thing that will get you better is moving towards the things youre avoiding, she said. [22] The show ran until 1996; Polley did return as Sara Stanley for an episode in 1995 and for the series finale. We are never going to feel that life is complete but we live in an age that tells us that this is a problem." (Polley writes in the book that she saw Gerwigs film, calling it beautifully realized.). But storyteller Sarah decided to face her family issues through a new documentary entitled Stories We Tell. What they have in common, she said, is that they chronicle events from the past that have been fundamentally changed by my relationship to them in the present., They were things I didnt talk about, because I didnt know what the stories even were, Polley, 43, added. At least that was her story. She used to think her "vibrant but distracted not engaged enough with me". Stories We Tell is released in cinemas on 28 July. A DNA test confirmed her suspicions that the man. The essays often link moments from her childhood, adolescence and adulthood, spanning her experiences as an artist and entertainer, a mother, a daughter and a woman. Meanwhile she divorced, remarried, raised a mutant child in the sci-fi horror film Splice, portrayed a depressed mother in Mr. Nobody, directed Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen in Take This Waltz, and had a baby. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The movie, starring Julie Christie (with whom she had played in No Such Thing, 2001, and The Secret Life of Words, 2005), debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2006, as part of the TIFF's Gala showcase. Dainty as a dancer, she is wearing a blue denim jacket, a scarlet shirt and sneakers to match. For years, he was an author in search of a subject. Diane Polley was a Canadian actor and casting director. Send us photos of your parents or the people you think of as parents and see what's been sent in so far at GuardianWitness, When Sarah Polley decided to make a documentary about the mother she lost as a girl of 11, she had no idea of the extraordinary family secret she would unearth. She listens more than she talks. She was an actress and casting director, known for Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1983), Encounter (1952) and The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985). When I saw Away From Her, I thought, Well, this isnt a surprise that someone whos such a great actor would be able to create such amazing performances and have such a rapport with her cast, Egoyan said, referring to Polleys directorial debut, which centered on the deterioration of a couple in the face of Alzheimers and landed actress Julie Christie an Oscar nomination for lead actress. I always knew that story, but I didnt know there was footage of it. Besides, what gives the film its distinction are the questions it raises that reach beyond plot: do we own our own stories or do they own us? It is a cine-memoir of Sarah's parents, an extended family's portrait of itself. I had known this story my whole life about this part she wanted and she didnt get and she thought of it as a pivotal moment in her life, and it really broke her heart, said Polley. even paint the same portrait of Diane Polley. [3] She first garnered attention as a child actress for her role as Ramona Quimby in the television series Ramona, based on Beverly Cleary's books. [37] In her 2022 essay collection Run Towards the Danger, Polley revealed she had been working on a second draft of the Little Women screenplay when she had a traumatic head injury that left her with post-concussion syndrome that left her with symptoms for four years and left her temporarily unable to work. 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. Presenting a Rashomon-like maze of contradictory interviews, Polley puts her entire family on camera, including her four siblings and two dads. Polley was in the midst of another film project, an adaptation of Miriam Toewss novel Women Talking that she wrote and directed, when the pandemic forced its temporary suspension. Ive never sat down and spoken on camera about personal stuff, so I was nervous and it was tiring and probably therapeutic in some ways, he said. I knew better not to do it and yet I kept doing it. I wasnt interested in exposing myself, said Polley, 34, whose diminutive stature belies a striking ambition. Director Atom Egoyan, who cast Polley in The Sweet Hereafter and has remained close to the actress, said he was astounded by her progress as a director. 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. Sarah grew up with Michael Polley in Toronto and after a while her memories of her mother became vague and misty. [30] The critically acclaimed documentary examined family secrets in Polley's own childhood. In another chapter, The Woman Who Stayed Silent, Polley revisits what she used to call a funny party story about my worst date ever with Jian Ghomeshi, the musician and former CBC radio host who in 2016 was acquitted of five charges related to sexual assault. 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. Yet her film also reveals that everyone has a subtly different story to tell. May 11, 2013 7 AM PT. Her siblings are Susy and John Buchan from Diane's first marriage to George Deans-Buchan, and Mark and Joanna Polley from her second marriage to Michael Polley (19332018), a British-born actor who became an insurance agent after Diane and he started a family. There were all these weird discrepancies in the stories, and we were also all so invested in telling it. In 1995, she lost two back teeth after being struck by a riot police officer during a protest against the provincial Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris in Queen's Park. As she grew up in Toronto under the care of her father, Michael, Polleys conception of her mother was fuzzily constructed from memories, photographs and family stories. But she wants to impress on me that she still regards her story as ordinary, whatever others may say. In 2006, she directed Away From Her, about a woman suffering from Alzheimer's (Julie Christie was nominated for an Oscar). It was so strange, to have to completely reimagine where you biologically come from.. [33] In June 2016, the series was confirmed with Polley writing and producing. I pass more than one itinerant woman in shabby chic clothes. She subsequently scaled back her political activism. [7] She was nominated as Best European Actress by the European Film Academy for her role as Hanna. But its kind of exhilarating, realizing that whatever story youve been telling about yourself and everyone tells those stories isnt you. Yet a few pages later, Polley finds herself regretting that she absolved Gilliam too easily, having bought into the archetype of the out-of-control white male genius: Its so pervasive, this idea that genius cant come without trouble, that it has paved the way for countless abuses, she writes. We break the ice not that there is much to break with talk of Toronto. I didnt want to do it. It took a friend to clarify for me that finding a storyis not the same as creating one." She made her acting debut aged four and is critical of the way child actors are treated. Manipulating even as it exposes, Stories We Tell is a provocative, genre-bending documentary that examines how we construct personal narratives and shows Polley struggling with her own. At the age of 12 (around 1991), Polley attended an awards ceremony while wearing a peace sign to protest the first Gulf War. Get our L.A. I thrive on too-intimate conversations with people, she said. Sarah even found and filmed a newspaper cutting reporting on the case. Its a 19th-century tale of a Canadian servant convicted of murder, so this one hopefully wont strike as close to home. I never believed the secret could be kept this long, says Polley, sitting down for her first interview about the movie, scheduled for release Oct. 12. But Stories We Tell, which was produced by the National Film Board, unwraps the riddle of Polleys birth with such compelling intrigue that documentary seems to undersell it. I dont have this need for secrecy around almost every part of my life.. 34 year old Sarah tells of how the news started many family conversations at the dinner table and she noted how everyones story was different with each family member highlighting a different aspect of the tale. "I was more concerned the film should include everybody's version and not be one-dimensional," Sarah says, but concedes: "Telling stories is our way of coping, a way of creating shape out of a mess. [10], Polley suffered from severe scoliosis as a child, and underwent a spinal operation at 15 that required her to spend the next year in bed recovering. "Stories We Tell" is about Sarah Polley's family - in particular about her mother - Diane - who died of cancer on January 10, 1990 when Sarah was eleven years old. [24], Polley appeared as Lily on the CBC television series Straight Up. Polley emigrated to Canada, settling in the Toronto . "[46] [47] Polley was nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 95th Academy Awards, and the film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Diane Polley Diane was Sarah's mother and unfortunately passed away from cancer in 1990. In her new essay collection, Run Towards the Danger, the actress and filmmaker examines intensely personal stories shes still sorting out for herself. [10] Starring: Michael Polley, Michael Polley, Sarah Polley. Like an elaborate game of telephone, everyone had a slightly different take upon learning the identity of Sarahs biological father. Now, she feels "a lot more admiration. I think actors are trained to go to the emotion in them that is most suitable for their character at that moment, Atwood said. Goes Out newsletter, with the week's best events, to help you explore and experience our city. [21] The show was picked up by the Disney Channel for distribution in the United States. I feel really committed to it. [43] [44] It was released to widespread acclaim, with 90% of critics giving it a positive review on Rotten Tomatoes. She remembers staying up until the small hours talking about books with Michael "and smoking" she laughs and "not wanting to be anywhere else". She wonders how her mother would have felt about the film. Mum was adventuresome but trapped, says a kid, dutiful but wild, says a confidant, talented (maybe) and unfulfilled (sometimes) and by many accounts a shy extrovert. "I am highly strung, neurotic about responsibility and punctuality. On a Saturday morning this past January, Polley was speaking in a video interview from her home in Toronto. [6], In June 2014, it was announced that she would be writing and directing an adaptation of John Green's Looking for Alaska. She also peels back the filmmaking process, filming set-up shots and voice-over sessions while obfuscating other details, particularly her personal response to the shocking revelation. "I felt closer to you than I ever felt about the other children," he tells her, explaining that he'd always shared her siblings' attention with their mom. And Stories We Tell, five years in the making, is no exception. The long slog gave Polley the chance to fill in many blanks about her mysterious matriarch. She was an actress and casting director, known for Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1983), Encounter (1952) and The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985). In the film, Polley breaks up her father's narration with interviews conducted with other members of her family. Other moments are less conventional. [6] Michael Polley is the film's chief narrator. ", Polley in the present day, with her Super-8 camera. She thinks it too easy to "blame the person with whom we are sharing our life". I dont think I ever resolved my self-doubt or my feelings of ambiguity about it. [9][49] She was subsequently involved with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. Western Law welcomes new faculty. Like his siblings, he felt skeptical that anyone outside the family would care about the story, but he was also energized by the experience. For one battle scene, she was repeatedly made to run a terrifying gantlet of explosives and debris. As a director, you have conversations with your actors and you get to know things about their lives, Egoyan said. Western Law 2018 Alumni Magazine, 2018. In a strange way, I contributed to that, he said. This is a fantastic moment in the film (no reconstruction involved). What binds the "children" is their mother, Diane Polley an actress and casting director who died when Sarah was 11. She has starred in many feature films, including The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Exotica (1994), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Guinevere (1999), Go (1999), The Weight of Water (2000), No Such Thing (2001), My Life Without Me (2003), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Splice (2009), and Mr. Nobody (2009). It was "easy" to interview her family, she says, because, "There are no taboos at our dinner table. In the film she determines to find out whether the joke has substance, a quest that will eventually lead to a "sick feeling of responsibility and an enormous crushing guilt that laid me out for a few weeks. The results knocked me on my ass, says Polley, sipping cider in a caf around the corner from her Toronto home. Her film may be her story but she gets others to tell it. Polley's father, Michael Polley, was a regular on the show during its entire three-season run. But Michael Polley is the one who has to absorb the shock, and as he plunges into memoir-writingwhich Sarah has him record as voiceoverhe emerges as the more sympathetic of the two. And then she turns to me: do I have a family secret? During the making of the film, her sisters also divorced their spouses.) She was previously married to Michael Polley and George Deans-Buchan. Copyright 2023 Elsevier Inc. except certain content provided by third parties. At 18 Sarah followed her mothers footsteps into the acting profession and caught a break when audiences responded to her performance in The Sweet Hereafter. ), I feel a relief in finally just standing up, she said. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. In December 2020, it was announced Polley would direct Women Talking based upon the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews for Orion Pictures. When I said I was getting married for a second time, the interrogation lasted many months. One section of the film recounts how Diane left her first husband for Michael and in the process lost custody of John and Susy; she made headlines as the first Canadian woman to be denied custody because of her adulterous affair. Diane Polley was a Canadian actor and casting director. [11], Polley was raised by Diane and Michael. The news sent ripples through the entire family and among other things prompted Michael Polley to start writing again after along hiatus and her biological father to start writing. By Dave Itzkoff. George Bernard Shaw wrote: "If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance." Subsequently this led to her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series Road to Avonlea (19901996). And, looking back, Sarah acknowledges that "taking care of me became the centre of his life". There is just this messiness to the human experience thats extraordinarily inconvenient if youre trying to tell one story about it, she said. My body went into shock and sickness, and every time Ive gone to Montreal since then, I get really sick, she said. Polley wrote and directed her second feature, Take This Waltz starring Michelle Williams, Luke Kirby, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011. Mini Bio (1) Diane Polley was born on August 31, 1936 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And it includes a stunning secret (it would spoil the film's delicate detective work to spill it). Shes an artist, he said. what type of cancer did diane polley die from. I like bold gestures that aren't necessarily backed up by statistics. I think its a lot to absorb and kinda difficult.. Stories We Tell has brought her family together, says Polley, but the five-year struggle to make it was painfulsitting in an editing room thinking about your childhood, and your mother whos gone. Like a child who feels responsible for her parents divorce, Polley felt guilty for uncovering the affair. I am compulsively early I get to airports three hours early." The filmmaker realized this was something worthy of more detailed exploration and a documentary was born. But let's start from the film's beginning. 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. [60], On August 23, 2011, Polley married David Sandomierski, who at the time was working on his SJD degree (equivalent to a PhD in law) at the University of Toronto, which he would complete six years later, in 2017. In 2003 she got married, to David Wharnsby, a film editor. Here, she trips up your expectations right through the final fade. Despite the fact that the family had watched Diane battle the cancer that eventually killed her, when she died everyone was shocked. She used existing footage from home Super 8 movies and old photographs with confessional interviews from her brothers and sisters. Sarah said, My body went into shock and sickness, and every time Ive gone to Montreal since then, I get really sick, she said. That was such a relief, said Polley, whose next project is adapting Margaret Atwoods Alias Grace. This was something that compelled me. And as her youngest daughter processes all these contradictions, an exercise in family navel-gazing becomes something more meta less about the stories themselves than about the often uproarious ways in which people tell stories. It includes many friends all of whom have versions of her. The death came as a shock, even though her father and older siblings had watched Diane Polley battle the disease for months. I think to make it your job to think about your family and to dredge up stuff about your family all day, every day would make anybody totally crazy. Polley attended the Canadian Film Centre's directing program in 2001, and won the Genie Award for Best Live Action Short Drama in 2003 for her short film I Shout Love. Polley also appeared in 44 episodes of the Canadian drama Street Legal. It was really interesting to have a big drama in your own life, and have this need to make it into narrative.. Michael Polley is the Anglo-Canadian actor best known for his connection to the actress-director Sarah Polley, the offspring of his late wife, Diane Polley.Michael Polley was born in England in 1933 and studied acting during the 1950s; one of his classmates was Albert Finney, who compared the profession of acting to that of bricklaying. It was at this time that she famously got "roughed up" by riot police protesting at a conservative government cutting welfare benefits and lost two back teeth. Nevertheless, she followed her mothers footsteps into acting, taking to the Canadian stage as a child and at 18 catching the attention of U.S. audiences after her role in The Sweet Hereafter.. She sat in a brightly lit room, undaunted by the prospect of staring into a computer monitor for an hour or so and putting herself under a microscope. Feb. 17, 2022. She was dissuaded by family and friends from coming forward with her experiences, but ultimately chose to do so in her autobiographical essay collection Run Towards the Danger.