A great cast (especially Emily Watson) does a sterling job in this deeply involved tale of human dilemnas and misdemeanours. The film is a superb adaption from the hugely successful novel of the same name by Kim Edwards.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3528 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-12-01
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, The Memory Keeper's Daughter is an emotional drama dealing with a family secret that eventually destroys a family. David (Dermot Mulroney) and Norah (Gretchen Mol) are the perfect couple; he is a highly regarded physician and she is his beautiful, young, blond wife. Unable to get his wife to the hospital during a blizzard, David delivers their twins himself. A boy is born first--pink, ruddy, and healthy--but the baby girl is a "mongoloid" who has Down Syndrome. There's a saying that some doctors suffer from a God complex, and it would seem that David is one of them; instead of sharing the news with his wife after she wakes up, he makes the decision that he will tell her that only their son survived. He orders his nurse Caroline (Emily Watson) to take his daughter to an institution. There is a feeling of unrest and uncertainty as the characters sense that something isn't quite right. Norah, who never got to say goodbye to her baby, has never been able to get closure and is in a constant state of grieving. David lives with the guilt of what he has done, but doesn't really think he did anything wrong. Even their son feels that something is missing from his life. Caroline, who had always been a loner, winds up having the most complete life. Defying David's orders, she takes the little girl, Phoebe, and runs away with her to raise the girl as her own. At turns poignant and at other times maudlin, The Memory Keeper's Daughter offers some excellent acting by the leads. Watson in particular shows depth and compassion. To a certain extent, she is the moral compass of the film, but she also is the film's heart. --Jae-Ha Kim

DVD Description
In 1964, Dr. David Henry (Dermot Mulroney, Zodiac) separated his daughter from her twin brother to hide the daughter's Down Syndrome from his wife. Entrusting the baby to a nurse (Emily Watson, The Water Horse), David cut off all contact to focus on his wife (Gretchen Mol, 3:10 to Yuma) and his son. Over the next 25 years, his disabled daughter grows into a beautiful adult while David watches the rest of his family fall apart, knowing he can never reveal his darkest secret.

Synopsis
In this tragic drama of consequences, Dermott Mulroney stars as a doctor who can't bear to tell his wife that their newborn daughter suffers from Down Syndrome. Decades later, after claiming the baby was stillborn and surreptitiously charging a nurse to take her to a shelter for the mentally ill, the troubled doctor learns the girl has in fact grown into a bright, attractive woman whose reemergence in his life serves as a flesh-and-blood reminder of his deepest, darkest secret...and causes a fatal rift among the entire family. Emily Watson and Gretchen Mol co-star in this engaging Lifetime Original movie based on Kim Edwards's novel.

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Customer Reviews

grab your hankies and enjoy
I read this book recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't even aware it was a movie but I found it through conversation and on-demand. The film adaptation keeps quite close to the story with some changes, as expected. Good cast, good performances and thankfully lacking any real hollywood stuff. I would recommend both the book (ok moreso the book) and the film...and a big box of hankies!

Disappointing
I read the book and was blown away, so when I found out there was a movie out there I ran to the shop and bought it. I was so excited about it!!

But midway through I was half way bored to death and annoyed that the movie was so difference from the book I could've sworn the two stories had nothing more in common than a few details. I was very disappointed by it to say the least. I wouldnt recommend anyone watching this movie - just stick to the book!