Tell Them You Love Me Has Found Its Way to the Top of Netflix’s Charts

True crime documentaries have allowed general audiences to judge, choose, and make up their own version of a certain event. It doesn’t matter how much evidence about the crime exists, audiences will draw conclusions after watching what can only be described as a supercut with bits of information that someone writes in an outline. Yes, documentaries can be scripted, and no, they can’t be informative enough to make a perfect document about a crime.

Netflix‘s latest true crime documentary is an excellent example of what a documentary should be in this gray area of “judging as viewers.” Tell Them You Love Me doesn’t make things easier for audiences as they try to decide about the case and its accused. However, it makes good use of the mystery factor that’s undeniably present in the table. We won’t ever know what really happened because, in this case, it’s impossible. In a complicated territory of morals, work ethics, and human will, Tell Them You Love Me is an unbiased display of the basic facts related to a case of sexual assault that sparks questions.

As Netflix’s Tell Them You Love Me ascends to the top of the streamer’s charts, we dared to enter its disturbing story and came out with more questions than answers about the very peculiar case of Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson.

The following article has spoilers for Netflix’s documentary Tell Them You Love Me.

Derrick and Anna’s Relationship in Tell Them You Love Me

Tell Them You Love Me

4/5

Release Date

June 14, 2024

Director

Nick August-Perna

Cast

Kate Dulcich , Jerron Herman , Brenda McCullough , Richard Rampolla , Julian Thomas

Distributor(s)

Netflix

Read our Review

Tell Them You Love Me follows the story of ethics professor Anna Stubblefield and her relationship with an African-American nonverbal man known as Derrick Johnson. Johnson, a New Jersey man with cerebral palsy, met Anna through his brother John as the professor became an essential promoter of facilitated communication. Facilitated communication is a theoretical technique used by specialists to provide nonverbal people with the ability to communicate. Usually, they use their fingers to point, and in the case of Derrick Johnson, Anna helped him to use a keyboard.

John asked Anna to help his brother, and she complied to guide him through the complicated use of a device. Eventually, Derrick could enter a university class with Anna’s help. He even started reading books and writing papers, leaving everyone impressed. Clearly, Derrick always had something to say beyond his disability, and now he had a voice.

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The problem is what happens soon after. Anna and Derrick (or Dman, as he asked her to call him) begin a relationship. Anna, who was married at the time, falls in love with Derrick, and she indicates they began a consensual sexual relationship. When they decided to inform John and Derrick’s mother, Daisy, of this turn of events, the Johnsons didn’t buy it.

Daisy and John decide to fight back and formally accuse Anna Stubblefield of sexual assault. Their argument is that Derrick couldn’t possibly consent to the sexual relationship because of his condition, and facilitated communication was (and still is) reasonably questioned as a scientifically proven method that nonverbal people can use.

Why Is Tell Them You Love Me a Controversial Film?

Directed by Nick August-Perna (and executive produced by Louis Theroux), Tell Them You Love Me is a jarring journey through a situation where it’s hard to be objective. It’s evident that Derrick’s condition doesn’t allow him to fully function like Stubblefield says he can. However, the documentary doesn’t stand aside and participate in condemning the professor for her crime. It’s enough that she has to go through a trial and get convicted.

The film gives her a voice, plain and simple. It provides her with an opportunity to speak her mind and share her perception of facts. Sure, there’s nothing scientific behind her argument that Derrick could seduce her, but facilitated communication, as imperfect as it is, could still be a light at the end of a tunnel for nonverbal people. It just needs more time, research, and, ultimately, credit.

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Nevertheless, Stubblefield is not the best figure regarding the fringe science of facilitated communication. Her case is very controversial because of what it implies and what was proven in court. It’s also important that the film allows her to speak out loud during her ordeal’s conclusion: she was acquitted afterward when judges decided to include Derrick’s facilitated communication device as evidence.

Tell Them You Love Me is controversial because it leaves room for doubt, and in doubt, Stubblefield has acquired a place. An opposing view that offers something compelling about Derrick’s mysterious mindset. It doesn’t help that Derrick’s mother, Daisy, shares something “controversial” about his new reality. She says Derrick is her baby, but her baby now masturbates. Whose fault is that? Is it Stubblefield’s? Or is it a display of natural behavior?

Netflix’s Role in the Popularity of Modern True Crime Is Undeniably Significant

What makes audiences so fascinated with the world of true crime? Is it the powerful reveal of the offshoots of human nature that we feel unable to observe in the real world? Or is it the constant need to confirm the world isn’t such a perfect place after all? As we try to answer the question amid the exponential growth of the subgenre, Netflix keeps celebrating one of its most viewed categories. Their contribution is massive, and it won’t stop anytime soon.

Tell Them You Love Me is one of their latest successful productions in the world of disturbing true crime. Whether or not you like the streamer’s basic structure for the documentary subgenre, there’s no denying Netflix is the place to go for quick bingeing. Some of the most notable titles are:

Tell Them You Love Me is streaming now on Netflix.