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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 14070
Released: October 7, 2008 |
| Our Price: $7.66 |
| Used Price: $2.45 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
In 1964, Dr. David Henry (Dermot Mulroney) 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), David cut off all contact to focus on his wife (Gretchen Mol)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.
Description of The Memory Keeper's Daughter:
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 couplel; 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
The Memory Keeper's Daughter Reviews:
Not bad, having never read the book 
2009-09-21 - I just finished watching this moving on Lifetime. I found it moving and heartfelt. I thought the acting was well done. And like one of the other reviews, it brought tears to my eyes. Frequently when it's book to movie, the movie is usually less and different than the book. If you haven't read the book, then this is a good movie. Now my debate is whether or not I should read the book.
Memory Keepers Daughter 
2009-03-23 - Eight of us went to New York last year and we bought the book and all read it. For the anniversary of the event I purchased the DVD so we could watch it together! I watched it first and it really was very close to the book! I think the girls will enjoy it! It didn't have the heart of the book but it kept its integrity. I think folks who haven't read the book will also enjoy it!
A terrible adaptation of the book 
2009-03-18 - Like many other reviewers here, I loved the book and was anticipating the screen adaptation. To my utter disappointment, this Lifetime movie version was just a hack job, and did a complete disservice to the wonderful work in was adapted from.
The movie leaves out major characters and plot threads, and made me feel like I was watching a disjointed movie. That is what this movie is - disjointed and confusing. There is no real character development and because so much of the original novel has been deleted or changed, we are left with unanswered questions and puzzlement as to why some characters behave the way they do.
I would recommend reading the book first and if you like it, then you'd probably want to skip this poor excuse of an adaptation. I hope someone will eventually give the novel the right cinematic treatment it deserves.
worst movie of a decade at least 
2009-02-17 - I was very disappointed with this movie. The mayor characters were left out, the portrayed characters were not developed enough for me to connect in the same way (or similar) when reading the book (which is brilliant, btw), the movie plot was even changed! Don't bother with this movie, it would only waste your time!
Memory Keepr's Daughter- Book vs Movie 
2009-01-11 - Read the book! The movie cuts out MANY major events, it was very disappointing! When I read the book, I coldn't put it down because there were so many interesting events. Watching the movie is nothing like reading the book, although it was nice to see parts of the movie being portrayed in film.
