The Memory Keeper's Daughter Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
A father separates his son from his twin sister at birth to prevent him and the mother from knowing she was born with Down syndrome. Based on the novel by Kim Edwards.
| Hugh Thompson | Al |
| Owen Pattison | Paul - age 6 |
| Jeremy Akerman | The Minister |
| David Gibson McLean | Duke |
| Dermot Mulroney | Dr. David Henry |
| Jamie Spilchuk | Paul - age 18-22 |
| Tyler Stentiford | Paul @ 13 |
| Lita Llewellyn | Ruby |
| Kerry McPherson | Kay |
| Gretchen Mol | Nora Henry |
| Krystal Hope Nausbaum | Phoebe |
| Emily Watson | Caroline Gil |
| Mick Jackson |
6.40 out of 10 (367 votes)
Visitor Reviews
OK...pretty good
posted on 22 May 2009I'm not sure how the 1 out of ten made the top comments, considering the movie is rated 6.4 at this time, but c'mon IMDb? It was a touching story. Not great, but certainly not a 1. It's kind of embarrassing that this rating somehow made their top review. A one? Someone has to filter out these kinds of ratings. There's really no basis for such a bad rating, and the average score undoubtedly backs that statement up. I don't mean to rant about it, but I can't help but feel that someone has to be held accountable for misleading the potential viewer, and I have to make this rant at least ten lines, so I'm trying to do what I can to make that happen. I think I just did it. Thanks.
Lifetime Channel worthy but not much more.....
posted on 23 Mar 2009Great book, poorly done movie. Cheesy performances and contrived situations make this movie a sentimental bore-fest. Flat and uninspired work from most of the actors leaves this film in the After School Special category. No doubt there is a lot of talent to be tapped in this cast and crew but something went horribly wrong The very talented Gretchen Mol attempts to pull this film out of the mire but even she can't seem to rise above the silly dialogue. Feels like everyone just phoned it in. Even the makeup (Mulrooney ages 20 years over the course of the film) looks amateurish and crude. Don't waste your time on this clunker.... go read the book.
Loved it!
posted on 17 Feb 2009I am always happy when books i read turn out to be made into movies. IT makes me feel special..because i know everything that is supposed to happen.I only learn about this movie last week Saturday when much to my surprise, a sideline ad said "The memory keeper's daughter Saturday @ 9". Of course i had to see it, and i waited and waited and finally i saw it tonight.I haven't read the book since the first time i did which was sometime in the ending of 2006 to the beginning of 2007. I may not be clear on the exact movements of the characters but i get the gist and to me, it was a good movie. Phoebe's character was well play, but it would have been nice to see someone else play the older phoebe. Paul's character at age 18, wasn't exactly the image i thought Paul would look like but he became cuter at 22.The book was good and this movie was equal to it, for me at least. I'm happy it came out, and honestly for a lifetime movie, i thought it was great. There was a few minor set backs, but it was a good movie!
Musical Score?
posted on 03 Feb 2009Does anyone know the name of the song that Paul is playing on the guitar when the family is vacationing at the beach???I really enjoyed the book, but I wasn't entirely thrilled with the way the movie turned out. The book kept me turning the pages... I really thought that the movie didn't portray the struggle that Caroline went through with Phoebe growing up and her passion for her as a mother.It really only touched on many of the aspects of the book and in my opinion the movie was sort of a quick synopsis of the book. The acting was OK... not Oscar-worthy or anything, just OK.It was, however, entertaining, but I'm glad I read the book first!
Memory Keeper's Daughter- My Down Syndrome's Child Keeper ***1/2
posted on 22 Jan 2009Dermot Mulroney and Emily Watson are appealing in this sad film.It deals with a spur of the moment decision that has a lasting impact on the lives of several people throughout a 22 year period.When his wife gives birth to twins, the boy is normal but the girl has Down's Syndrome. In a moment of misery, Mulroney tells his wife that the girl died in childbirth. He gives the baby to Nurse Watson with the instructions for her to bring the child to a home. When Watson sees the conditions in the home, she flees with the baby. Meeting a stranger in a snowstorm, she runs off to Pittsburgh with the baby and weds.The film shows that the "Down Child" had a perfectly normal life whereas the boy along with Mulroney and his unfaithful wife, encounter nothing but misery along the way.We should realize that it would take a death for everything to come out and this is exactly what occurs.Watson is just wonderful as the compassionate, understanding nurse who gave so much of herself to the child.This was a wonderful film and should not be missed.
Musical Score
posted on 18 Sep 2008Someone asked about a song that the son was playing on the guitar...It's called: "Romance: Juegos Prohibidos." The composer is an anonymous Spanish guitarist.However, you can find the song on iTunes played by other musicians.A few scenes later, Paul and his son are in the truck arguing about music and there's another song playing.It follows the son as he's running on the beach.It's called "Asturias" by Juan Quesada and it's on the Vicky Cristina Barcelona soundtrack.From the little bit I saw of the movie, I really enjoyed the soundtrack! Wish it were available to buy.
A mothers love.
posted on 27 Aug 2008David and his wife have twins. Then there is a huge problem with the female twin so David tells his wife that the girl died while he sweeps it under the rug. David thought that he had gotten rid of his problem and ended up raising a boy. The nurse cannot leave the baby where David told her to so she makes a drastic decision that has an effect on everyone for many years to come.It's another sugary, corny Lifetime movie but it is quite good. It's all nice and sweet and sometimes maybe too sweet to take. It is a movie with a lot of heart in it. The part at the end with the flowers in it was sweet too. It's a nice, sweet movie that isn't too bad.
No, no, the palm trees, no no no!
posted on 20 Jul 2008Who is minding the store here? How could any producer/network executive/director let a crew stick the skeeziest fakest plastic palm trees in film history in the sands of a wintry Canadian beach and try to fob it off on us as the tropics? Those trees were to real palm trees what a pink tinsel K-Mart Christmas tree is to real fir. And who let Dermot Mulroney go in front of the camera with painted-on grey hair that wouldn't have passed muster in a high school play? And didn't any of the geniuses doing quality control on this thing think to correct the (excellent) Canadian actor when he said gaz instead of gas? Everybody involved with this plodding slug of a "movie"--writer, director, actors--has done not just good but brilliant work elsewhere. Paced way too fast between events and deadly slow within them, devoid of any emotion except the obvious, expository and contrived--maybe this only seems like one of Lifetime's worst movie because of all the Red Carpet hype with which it was presented. And I'm saying this as somebody who love Lifetime. What gives, folks?All of that said, a certain actress's work at a certain critical turn in the movie (and if you've seen it you'll know exactly what I'm talking about) was so brilliant that the movie would have gotten a 10 from me if that was the whole movie. Unfortunately it was only about five seconds of it.
Your first clue is "Lifetime Presents..."
posted on 16 Jun 2008Based on a fairly bland "best seller," this film - like most other Lifetime movies - played out more like a reenactment than an actual movie. The only difference here was that Meredith Baxter wasn't in it. The women in this don't age even over a span of like 20 years and the acting in general is pretty bad.The characters in this were all cliché and one-dimensional. The story was of the cheesy nature. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's the kind of thing that people who loved the book and people who watch that network all the time will think is great. I only watched it because my girlfriend wanted to see it so she wouldn't have to read the book her sister loaned to her. It wasn't made for someone like me - my girlfriend cried a little at the end though, so she didn't think it was as terrible as I did.
'In Camera"
posted on 08 Jun 2008THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER in the form of a novel by Kim Edwards was a highly successful bestseller and probably was featured in more reading groups than any other novel during its circulation. So what happened when the novel became a made-for-television movie? Perhaps it is the below mediocre screenplay (oops!, teleplay!) by John Pielmeier that consistently galumphs along in an awkward pedestrian fashion removing all sense of credibility to the story. Perhaps it is the cut and paste direction by Mick Jackson that misses the pacing and character delineation. Perhaps it suffers from the cinematography of an uncredited source or the 'liquid tears' musical score by Daniel Licht. For whatever of these (or all of these) reasons, this novel-to-film survives because it does make a good case for educating the public about the capabilities of those born with Down Syndrome. And for that it is worthy of attention. Dr. David Henry (Dermot Mulroney), a successful orthopedic doctor, is married to the beautiful Norah (Gretchen Mol) and their lives are becoming changed by their pregnancy. On a stormy winter night in Kentucky Norah goes into labor and the Henry's rush to a nearby clinic where David delivers his wife (the doctor is caught in a snowstorm) with the assistance of his old friend, nurse Caroline Gill (Emily Watson). After the delivery of a perfect boy child (Paul) Norah continues to be in labor and (surprisingly...) delivers an unexpected (!) twin girl. David and Caroline immediately recognize that the little girl (Phoebe) is a 'mongoloid' (this is before the use of the term Down Syndrome) and David, having a history of losing a little sister because of a birth defect) decides to send Phoebe to an asylum for the mentally challenged: Caroline is to make the delivery and Norah is told the second twin died at birth. Caroline follows instructions, sees the conditions of the 'home' where Phoebe is to be deposited, shrinks in horror, and decides to keep the child. Aided by a friendly trucker, Caroline changes her solitary existence and mothers Phoebe, finding a new life in her trucker's Pittsburgh. Norah insists on a formal funeral for Phoebe - a fact that deeply disturbs David's psyche, and the Henry's life goes on with only the one child Paul, leaving submerged pains about the lack of Phoebe's presence. Norah gifts David with a camera ('peoples lives are like a camera, that's where they live - in a room captured by a moment') and David becomes obsessed with photography. Norah grieves, drinks, and loses David's attention, while David traces Phoebe's existence with Caroline - sending money and letters to Pittsburgh. Paul (Tyler Stentiford to Jamie Spilchuk) grows up, discovers his mother's infidelities and is angered about his father's lack of communication and understanding, and decides to fulfill his goal of becoming a musician, and off to Juilliard he goes. Meanwhile Phoebe (Krystal Hope Nausbaum) has matured into a very highly adapted young girl, and the manner in which the broken marriage of the Henrys happens and the healing atmosphere of Phoebe's and Paul's lives coupled with the courage that has supported Caroline Gill's struggle to gain acceptance in the world for those born with Down Syndrome forms the conclusion of the film. The cast of well-known actors tries hard, but only Emily Watson is able to resurrect a credible character from this squishy script. Jamie Spilchuk gives evidence of a young actor with much promise. Dermot Mulroney and Gretchen find it difficult to mold empathetic characters form the corny lines they are given to deliver. The film is a mess, but the message about acceptance of Down Syndrome children and adults is an important one. Grady Harp
You know you're in trouble when...
posted on 18 Aug 2009a novel has a reading group study guide at the back. It's as if the author or publisher knows that the novel itself isn't strong enough to merit lively discussion without prompts or cues.That appendix of Kim Edwards's "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" provided a handy script for the Lifetime movie adaptation. But it makes a big gaffe, and it's a doozy: the title character and her brother are almost incidental!I read the book to the end mainly because I found Caroline Gill to be such a very strong, very compelling character. I never pictured Emily Watson in the role, although she is superb, given what she has to work with. But what is an actress of Watson's caliber doing in a middling TV movie anyway?Dermot Mulroney, as David Henry, is doomed from the start. In the book the reader doesn't so much feel what David is going through as he is told.The script doesn't bring the character any more to life, and Mulroney is not actor enough to fill in the blanks, nor to overcome the ghastly work by the makeup department in his final scenes.In the book and movie, David's wife Norah is used as a coat hanger over which to drape issues afflicting the disillusioned housewife: suspicion, booze, affairs, a time-killing job and self-absorption. In the thankless role, Gretchen Mol follows Spencer Tracy's advice; she hits her marks and doesn't bump into the furniture.Oh, well. There have been far worse books and far worse movies made from them. The novel "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" touches on so many issues that it explores only a few of them very thoroughly. The movie wisely cuts out many a subplot and yet it still feels long, sluggish and predictable. It's too bad that Lifetime Network, which has a huge following, doesn't spend a little more coin and effort making better movies from better stories.