For a moment, imagine the following. Lacking the ability to speak, verbalize thoughts, and communicate with others. Imagine, then, a means to overcome such a barrier through a device, not unlike a traditional computer, with additional help provided by a highly trained assistant meant to guide somehow the words that are trying to be said. Perhaps, occasionally, your message isn’t always clear or doesn’t reflect what said assistant believes might be your intended words. It shouldn’t be difficult to envision such wrongdoings taking place in what is indeed a well-documented real-life procedure, with the Netflix documentary “Tell Them You Love Me” taking things countless steps further by showcasing such a partnership between a disabled man and his communicator, how things spiraled out of control, and the fallout as a result. It’s the type of film you probably don’t want to take in more than once.
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Opening with a shot of Anna Stubblefield, one of the film’s central figures and unquestionably the reason why we’re here, this particular individual is quick to offer several teases of what’s to come, from the upsetting events that later took place to her eventual punishment, closing with a word or two as to why she doesn’t believe herself to be the villain everyone understands she is. Anna, you see, was brought into the life of a Black man named Derrick Johnson primarily due to his brother John, a well-educated Ph. D candidate with an articulate persona in unfortunate contrast to Derrick’s. There’s no doubting the limitations surrounding Derrick, a man with the intellectual capacity of a child barely a year old but with the body of a fully grown man who has cerebral palsy and an inability to verbalize his own thoughts in any way. Scattered throughout the film are numerous scenes showing Derrick going about his day-to-day existence, almost always in the company of John or his devoted mother, Daisy, never casting any doubt as to whether Derrick does indeed possess the afflictions he’s struggled with all his life. It’s this that brings John to Anna after hearing of her work in the field of facilitated communication.
This is where the actions described above take center stage, as Anna begins to work one-on-one with Derrick in the hope that, with both the help of Anna and a computer-esque device, the imprisoned words of Derrick will finally see the light of day and his true potential can at long last begin to take flight. As we see Anna embark upon this relationship with Derrick, it at first appears that her methods might be producing results, with Derrick seemingly spouting off eloquent phrases and even able to somewhat converse, demonstrating progress in a classroom setting that seems to prove Anna’s abilities in bringing out the inner Derrick and propelling him towards success in academics. It’s not without its challenges, however, as one tense moment sees Anna recount how she didn’t believe Derrick was responding to his teacher in a manner she felt he truly meant. And in changing his words, Anna is met by a furious Derrick, asking that she never do something like that again. Were this the only misdeed in all the sessions between Derrick and Anna, this entire situation may very well have fallen below the radar. This, sadly, was only the beginning.
It isn’t long before Anna discovers feelings for Derrick, feelings this married mother can’t ignore, and in expressing this to Derrick, she discovers an apparent reciprocation that quickly turns physical. It’s an unraveling that’s enough to make anyone squirm, primarily as an eyebrow raised on behalf of the viewer now begins to take place when facilitated communication experts such as Dr. Howard Shane express their views that this method may not actually work at all; is Derrick indeed a disabled man unable to verbalize a mind full of knowledge, or does this knowledge even exist? Suspicion is soon raised in Derrick’s brother when John notices various marks strewn across his back as a result of numerous trysts on the floor of Anna’s office, suspicions which are soon confirmed as Anna, Daisy, and John recount the horrifying day that Anna confirmed what had been happening to Derrick’s mortified family. As any rational family would most certainly do, contact between Anna and Derrick comes to an end shortly after, with the authorities soon involved and the documentary moving into a third-act courtroom drama; we’ve known from the jump where this is heading, and it doesn’t end up well for Anna, though an epilogue reveals that an appeal has her out from her previous confines of prison, now understandably divorced and no longer working in the field where she decided to lay waste.
Disturbing as it may be, this remains a fascinating film, another example of Netflix’s ability to cast an uncomfortable topic into a glaringly bright spotlight so soon after this year’s equally mortifying “Baby Reindeer” but with a far more compact approach courtesy of director Nick August-Perna (“No Passport Required,” “The Swell Season“), as he hits all the hallmarks of what makes for a compelling documentary. Anna paints herself into a corner time and again with her own words acting as the brush, but by the end, even those talking heads who saw her as an upstanding expert can’t help but turn their back in the face of an avalanche of damning evidence that proves what she did was horrendously wrong. It’s a film that somehow manages to touch on consent, race, and what constitutes relationships; what was the motivation here? Did Anna genuinely feel the way that she did towards Derrick, or was it nothing more than a case of perplexing manipulation? As seen during Anna’s sentencing following her conviction, one particularly satisfying moment comes when a letter from her husband is read in court, far from words of support and instead explicitly labeling her a narcissistic, pathological liar. It’s near-impossible to see how Anna might have misunderstood Derrick; unfortunately, as John admits in the film’s closing minutes, there was likely nothing to understand in the first place, as Anna was, by all accounts, seemingly talking to herself whenever she operated the device meant to give Derrick his own voice.
Is a viewing of “Tell Them You Love Me” essential? It’s hard to say; anyone seeking an undeniably bizarre story of someone taking all aspects of control from someone incapable of fighting back may find something here, even if Derrick’s story turns out far more distressing than one might expect as the film begins. Real questions will no doubt surface as the minutes fly past. Nothing here could be considered a dull watch, and if it leaves the viewer thinking about how we, as a society, treat one another, it could very well be a lesson learned. [B+]
“Tell Them You Love Me” is on Netflix now.