How Gabourey Sidibe's New Movie Relates To This Nina Simone Song

Eight years after making her acting debut in the film Precious, Gabourey Sidibe's career has reached a new landmark. On Tuesday, her directorial debut, The Tale of Four, is available to stream. The powerful film brings us into the living rooms and lives of four Black women: Saffronia (Megan Kimberly Smith), Sarah (Ledisi Young), Peaches (Aisha Hinds), and Sweet Thing (Dana Gourrier).

The movie becomes even more powerful when it's connected back to its source material: the song "Four Women" by Nina Simone. Simone's song is narrated by four women, each embodying an archetype of Black women from slavery to 1966, the year the song came out. Unsurprisingly, the women in the song are also named Saffronia, Sarah, Peaches, and Sweet Thing.

Sidibe told Refinery29 that the first time she heard "Four Women," she saw the movie version playing out before her. Now, we get to see her vision. Here's how the movie characters correlate to Simone's.