Transgressing Parental Boundaries

Sarah Polley's childhood was less than ideal, and the adults in her life often made it darker. As a young child, Polley was exposed to absolutely everything an adult might be exposed to when it came to film and television. Thus, first-grade Polley sang wildly inappropriate songs at school. Her parents concluded that this behavior was humorous, and the youngest Polley remained mostly confused because there were boundaries at school that did not exist at home.

In addition, both Polley's mother and father were substantially in awe of Hollywood types, and when the likes of Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame showed interest in Polley for a key role in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, both parents knew they wanted to do everything possible to make their daughter a success in the film. Unfortunately for Polley, that meant traveling across the world to film in Rome...