 | This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. Please help summarize the quotations. Consider transferring direct quotations to Wikiquote or excerpts to Wikisource. (June 2024) |
| Tell Them You Love Me | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | True crime documentary |
| Directed by | Nick August-Perna |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Louis Theroux |
| Original release | |
| Network | Netflix |
Tell Them You Love Me is a documentary film that details the case against Anna Stubblefield, a Rutgers University professor convicted in 2015 of sexually abusing Derrick Johnson, a nonverbal person with cerebral palsy whom she was allegedly supporting through facilitated communication. After struggling to find a distributor in the United States, it was eventually released through Netflix.
Description
Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson first met in 2009. Johnson’s mother and brother were convinced that he longed to express himself and Stubblefield offered to use facilitated communication to help with this. This took the form of Stubblefield assisting Johnson to type on a keyboard as a means of communication. Scientists say there is no evidence that the source of the message is the disabled person rather than the facilitator. Eventually Stubblefield and Johnson ended up having sex in her office, with Stubblefield claiming they were in love. Stubblefield was suspended from the University and convicted of sexual assault in 2015 but later released after an appeal.
The documentary film is described by Netflix as scandalous in that it explores "the controversial relationship between a professor and a nonverbal man that leads to a trial over race, disability and power." Writing for Tudum, Ingrid Ostby says that this film tells the story of a "relationship between a married White professor and a Black man with cerebral palsy sparks controversy when the man’s mother alleges that her son was incapable of consent — leading to a nationwide debate over power dynamics, disability, and race."
Production
Tell Them You Love Me takes place in Irvington and West Orange, New Jersey, and was directed by Nick August-Perna. It is rated TV-14.
Reception
The Guardian reported that the film is a "disturbing tale of a White female academic’s sexual abuse of a non-verbal Black man – and uses it to lay bare society’s prejudices", and that the film reveals "the way that facilitated communication ... can be misconstrued is just as striking as a study in White privilege and White female victimhood – where good intentions are consistently assumed of Stubblefield." The article concludes, "Beyond consent, disability and race there is space given to reflect upon the nature of language, the 'white saviour' complex, the purpose of justice and what constitutes unconditional love. Tell Them You Love Me might be a hard watch, but it is also a vital one."
The Daily Beast wrote that "though comes across as sincere, that’s not the same thing as innocent; considering everything, she seems to have deluded herself into believing a fiction because it let her feel good about liberating Derrick from his shortcomings." The article goes on to say that, "Following two years behind bars, Anna won an appeal due to the fact that the trial judge hadn’t allowed her to bring up anything related to facilitated communication. Nonetheless, as expert Howard Shane persuasively contends, that treatment remains questionable at best, and deceptive at worst ... it’s a method in which the caregiver’s subconscious projections lead to misinterpretations and manipulations. That’s perhaps the nicest way of saying that Tell Them You Love Me thinks facilitated communication reveals more about the facilitator than the patient."
See also
- Annie's Coming Out – based on the case of Anne McDonald
- Autism Is a World
- Deej
- Wretches & Jabberers
References
- ^ "Tell Them You Love Me". netflix.com. Netflix. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ OSTBY, INGRID (14 June 2024). "Tell Them You Love Me Documentary: Everything You Need to Know". netflix.com. Netflix. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- Keane, Daniel (13 January 2025). "Tell Them You Love Me on Sky Docs review: this knotty exploration of disability and consent is fascinating". Yahoo News. The Standard. Archived from the original on 13 January 2025. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
- Latif, Leila (3 February 2024). "Tell Them You Love Me review – this chilling documentary is vital, challenging TV". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- Schager, Nick (13 June 2024). "Did a White Professor Sexually Abuse Her Disabled Black Patient—Or Was it Love?". thedailybeast.com. The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 13 June 2024.