It was a member of Sarah Polley’s book club who first approached her with the statement: “I know what your next movie is.” But that was followed by some conditions. Recalls Polley: “She took me into the kitchen and said, ‘When I tell you what the background of the story is, you’re not going to want to make the film. So just bear with me.’ She told me the backstory and I said, ‘I don’t want to make that into a film.’” 

The book in question was Miriam Toews’ “Women Talking,” the story of women in a Mennonite community who learn that several men have been drugging and raping them for years, blaming demons for their injuries. Toews wrote the 2018 novel after learning about a case in Bolivia in which seven men were put on trial for such a crime in 2011. Toews’ novel details the secret meeting that takes place in a hayloft between the women who are presented with only a few options — they can forgive their abusers, fight against them or leave the community they have known all their lives.

After hearing more about the book, Polley was quickly won over. “She proceeded to tell me the story of this group of women having this passionate, rigorous debate about in what direction they would take their future,” the filmmaker says. “And by the time she finished describing it to me, I was riveted, and I ran and got the book.” 

A professional actor from a young age, Polley had already directed three acclaimed films, including 2006’s “Away From Her” and 2011’s “Take This Waltz.” Her last film had been 2012’s “Stories We Tell,” a fascinating and deeply personal documentary made after the filmmaker learned she was the product of an extramarital affair. But in 2015, Polley was struck on the head by a fire extinguisher and suffered a debilitating concussion that left her in bed for weeks and brought her directing career to a halt. Though she had improved, she had other reservations about the grueling schedule of making a movie.