TORONTO – Alanis Morissette has dramatically washed his hands of “Jagged,” the new documentary about his life that premiered Tuesday at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“I agreed to participate in a play about the 25th anniversary celebration of‘ Jagged Little Pill ’and was interviewed during a very vulnerable period (while I was in the middle of my third postpartum depression during closure),” the Canadian singer said hours before the debut screening at TIFF.
“They let me fall into a false sense of security and their sharp agenda became apparent immediately upon seeing the first cut of the film. That’s when I learned that our views were in fact painfully divergent. it was the story I agreed to tell ”.
Morissette, who did not attend the premiere at the Princess of Wales Theater, went on to say: “Ultimately, I will not support the reductive taking of another person in a story too nuanced for them to ever grasp or tell. “.
What is strange, however, is that the segments that the performer “You Oughta Know” most likely opposes (a few minutes into the documentary) are those that, in his own words, have been sexually approved by unnamed figures from the music industry. when he was a teenager. The film, on the other hand, is celebratory and innocuous.
They are all pedophiles. Any legal violation.
Alanis Morissette in “Jagged”
“On one level, I thought this was a dream come true,” Morissette, 47, says in the film of her growing fame. “This is [the] catalyst, beginning of the life of my dreams. And on the other hand, was, how, where is my protection? Where are they all? ”
Morissette recalls her painful memories of “Jagged” that everything changed for the worse when she was 15, several years before she released her album “Jagged Little Pill”.
“Something about me being 15, that’s when I really started hitting,” he says. “Twelve, they were a little scared. Thirteen were a little scared, but they would still know. Fourteen less fear, but still fear. Fifteen, all bets were off. In a way, it seemed like a safer number for people. “
At that time, the age of consent in Canada was 14 years. However, the singer suggests that the criminals were older men with whom she had professional associations and therefore had a position of power over her.
“I just thought it was my fault … Either the relationship would end or there would be some big secret that we would keep forever”
Alanis Morissette in “Jagged”
“I just thought it was my fault, because almost everyone I would work with would have a turning point where the camera would go to the Dutch angle,” he says, referring to a camera technique that unsettles viewers. “It simply came to our notice then.
“Either the relationship would end or there would be some big secret we would keep forever.”
As the document, directed by Alison Klayman, delves into her #MeToo stories, Morissette tells the director, “I need help, because I never talk about it.
“There was a lot of embarrassment around any kind of victimization,” he continues. “And it took me years in therapy to admit that there had been any kind of victimization on my part. He always said, “I was consenting” and then reminded me “Hey, you were 15. You’re not consenting at 15.” “
But today the record artist has a clear vision of what happened then: “Now I am a pedophile. All legal violations.
“Not explaining specific information about my experience as a teenager almost only wanted to protect me. Protect my parents, protect my siblings, protect future partners, protect me, protect my physical safety. “
However, Morissette did not condemn the entire documentary, which also includes her early life, the pursuit of alternative rock, her instant success on the list, and the formation of her band.
“There is beauty and some precision in this / my story to be sure,” she said.
Klayman told Deadline, “I think it’s very hard to see a movie made about yourself.
“I think she is incredibly brave and the reaction when she saw it was that it was a real thing: she could feel all the work, all the nuance that was there. And, again, she devoted a lot of her time and a lot of her effort to doing that, and I think the film really speaks for itself. ”
“Jagged” will air on HBO on November 19th.