On the surface, "No One Would Tell" would appear to be a film about an abusive male, Rob Tennison. But the filmmakers' relentless focus is not on Rob's story, but on the phenomenon of the abused woman syndrome. The naive Sarah Joy Collins and her equally gullible mother Laura are placed under the microscope to try to understand why young Sarah Joy would not have filed charges against Rob at school or with the police and why she would not "tell" anyone other than her best friend about the abuse.
Even when Sarah Joy first started dating Rob, his temper flared in the school library and he pushed Sarah Joy. That was followed by an ugly incident when Rob threw her to the ground at his lake house. On another occasion, he fat-shamed her. In front of her schoolmates, he verbally shamed her once again. Sarah Joy visits Rob's home, and he physically attacks her. Later, Rob breaks into the Collins home and gives her a "promise ring." Sarah Joy instantly forgives him and grants him another chance.
When Rob's temper rages at the dance when Sarah Joy is talking to another young man, Rob ushers her into the parking lot and abuses her in front of her bestie, Nikki Farrow. That should have been the last straw. But, once again, Sarah Joy agrees to go for a drive with Rob, and it turns out to be her last drive.
A salient moment in the film is when, after all the abuse, Sarah Joy tells Nikki, "I still want him." In the trial, Judge Mira Sorvino tells the court that "this is a war!" and that we need "change on a cultural level." But those abstractions never get to the heart of the matter that Sarah Joy and her mother needed more agency in their lives.
This film was made in 2018, yet inexplicably, the culture of school campuses alluded to by the judge is downplayed. Abuse would be discussed in classes. There would be a widely known policy for filing complaints. Students were noticing marks and bruises on Sarah Joy, yet failed to report them. A major lapse in the film was to avoid how the "war" is being fought and progress is being made in avoiding the American tragedy depicted in the film.
At one point, Sarah Joy was about to inform Rob's wrestling coach about the abuse she suffered. The coach would have been required to report the incident and the school would have taken disciplinary action and reported Rob to the police. Instead, Sarah Joy was silent. In this utterly depressing film, she thereby becomes a mere statistic of numbers of dead battered women cited in court by Judge Sorvino.
Even when Sarah Joy first started dating Rob, his temper flared in the school library and he pushed Sarah Joy. That was followed by an ugly incident when Rob threw her to the ground at his lake house. On another occasion, he fat-shamed her. In front of her schoolmates, he verbally shamed her once again. Sarah Joy visits Rob's home, and he physically attacks her. Later, Rob breaks into the Collins home and gives her a "promise ring." Sarah Joy instantly forgives him and grants him another chance.
When Rob's temper rages at the dance when Sarah Joy is talking to another young man, Rob ushers her into the parking lot and abuses her in front of her bestie, Nikki Farrow. That should have been the last straw. But, once again, Sarah Joy agrees to go for a drive with Rob, and it turns out to be her last drive.
A salient moment in the film is when, after all the abuse, Sarah Joy tells Nikki, "I still want him." In the trial, Judge Mira Sorvino tells the court that "this is a war!" and that we need "change on a cultural level." But those abstractions never get to the heart of the matter that Sarah Joy and her mother needed more agency in their lives.
This film was made in 2018, yet inexplicably, the culture of school campuses alluded to by the judge is downplayed. Abuse would be discussed in classes. There would be a widely known policy for filing complaints. Students were noticing marks and bruises on Sarah Joy, yet failed to report them. A major lapse in the film was to avoid how the "war" is being fought and progress is being made in avoiding the American tragedy depicted in the film.
At one point, Sarah Joy was about to inform Rob's wrestling coach about the abuse she suffered. The coach would have been required to report the incident and the school would have taken disciplinary action and reported Rob to the police. Instead, Sarah Joy was silent. In this utterly depressing film, she thereby becomes a mere statistic of numbers of dead battered women cited in court by Judge Sorvino.