JAGGED (Documentary). Alanis Morissette reflects on her 1990s rise to rock stardom, in this new documentary from Alison Klayman. Courtesy of TIFFCourtesy of TIFF
Prefacing the screening of the Alanis Morissette HBO documentary Jagged at the Toronto International Film Festival was a message from the film’s award-winning director, Alison Klayman. She closes it by saying the premiering of the film at TIFF is, “in a word, perfect.”
Here’s another word: Controversial. The film is a contextual examination of Morissette’s blockbuster 1995 album Jagged Little Pill. On the same day Jagged bowed at the festival, Morissette bashed the documentary by releasing a statement that outlined her disappointment with the team that made the film.
“I agreed to participate in a piece about the celebration of Jagged Little Pill’s 25th anniversary, and was interviewed during a very vulnerable time (while in the midst of my third postpartum depression during lockdown),” Morissette wrote. “I was lulled into a false sense of security and their salacious agenda became apparent immediately upon my seeing the first cut of the film. This is when I knew our visions were in fact painfully diverged. This was not the story I agreed to tell …”
There’s the rub: Whose story is it to tell, Morissette’s or Klayman’s?
In 1999, Aretha Franklin co-authored her biography Aretha: From These Roots with David Ritz. Years later, Ritz approached Franklin about doing a new biography on her. She wasn’t interested, and when Ritz said he’d write it without her input, Franklin objected, saying it was her story to tell. When Ritz’s Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin was published in 2014, Franklin, upset by the book’s candor, broke off her friendship with Ritz.
Anybody who has seen recent “documentaries” about pop stars Shawn Mendes, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish would think the story belongs to the subject of the film. There’s no journalism involved in things like Shawn Mendes: In Wonder. These are authorized marketing vehicles composed of orchestrated moments of openness and tearful vulnerability, all designed to showcase the artist in a favourable and sympathetic light. It’s all about brand management and celebrities controlling their own narratives.
Jagged isn’t one of those films. Documenting Morissette’s rise from Ottawa to international stardom through the lens of sexism in the music industry, the film is refreshingly frank, courtesy of Morissette, who is confessional by nature. Interviewed at length, she essentially serves as Jagged’s narrator.
We don’t know what Morissette and Klayman agreed to beforehand, and Morissette wasn’t specific about what in the film had her upset. She said Jagged (which is expected to be released later in the year on Crave in Canada) includes implications and facts that are “simply not true,” while accusing Klayman of a “salacious agenda.”
The film suggests tension between Morissette and her former touring band (which included Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins). The film’s bombshell, however, is Morissette’s accusation of statutory rape as a teenager.
“It took me years in therapy to even admit there had been any kind of victimization on my part,” she says in the film. “I would always say I was consenting, and then I’d be reminded like ‘Hey, you were 15, you’re not consenting at 15.’ Now I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, they’re all pedophiles. It’s all statutory rape.’”
Klayman has not commented on the discord with her film’s subject. Referring to Morissette’s no-show at the TIFF premiere of the film, she told the Washington Post, “Of course I wish Alanis could be there. It was a privilege to make this film and I’m really proud of it. Hopefully there will be other opportunities in the future for her to come to film events.”
The irony with the creative dispute is that one of the film’s themes is Morissette’s drive to gain control of her career. Betrayals of trust have been a consistent thread in her lyrics and interviews over the years. And now the “you live, you learn” singer says in her statement, “I sit here now experiencing the full impact of having trusted someone who did not warrant being trusted,” and “I ultimately won’t be supporting someone else’s reductive take on a story much too nuanced for them to ever grasp or tell.”
This is not the “perfect” premiere Klayman had anticipated. But Morrissette, a study in empowerment, has fought for voice and independence her whole career. She’s clearly not ready to give any of it up.
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