List Price: $24.96You Pay Only: $19.49 You Save: $5.47 (22%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396277694
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: October 07, 2008
Running Time: 90 minutes
Sales Rank: 12977
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
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.
Amazon.com:
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - MICK JACKSON, OPUS 21
*** 2008. A TV movie directed by Mick Jackson, the director of The Bodyguard (Special Edition) and Volcano. Emmy award nomination in the Outstanding Made for Television Movie category. Dr. David Henry decides to abandon his newly born daughter suffering from the Down syndrome. I didn't read Kim Edwards's The Memory Keeper's Daughter so I'm unable to compare this teleplay with the novel. What I liked the most in it was the performance of the actresses; Gretchen Mol and above all Emily Watson give outstanding performances that should lead you to see at last once this film. Once is enough if you don't have a personal interest in this peculiar subject. A DVD zone rental only.
Rating: - A Good Story, But It's Ruined by the Made-for-TV Cheese Factor
I recently watched "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" because I had always wanted to read the book but never got around to it, so I thought the movie would be a good substitute. I was wrong.
This made for Lifetime TV Movie feels more like half a story than a full movie. At points you can see that there is a good story that underlies the film, but the script doesn't take the time to develop the characters or explore the emotional aspects of the story, and without these pieces you can't make a really great film. Instead, the movie is paced like a TV show, quickly jumping between key events with little or no plot or character development. You are left wondering why certain characters act as they do as the story quickly moves to the next plot point. The movie also has a high made-for-TV cheese factor, with plenty of over acting and dramatic music.
I wish the "Memory Keeper's Daughter" had received better treatment--writing, directing, acting, etc--because I really do think it could have been a good film. I'm still interested in reading the book, even though I was soundly disappointed by this adaptation.
Rating: - 'In Camera'
THE 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 ... Read More
Rating:  - Shameful representation of the book.
If you've read the book first, don't waste your time watching the movie because you will be sorely disappointed. The director has left out characters from the book and key parts of the story, leaving the movie a mess and hard to follow. I liked the book, but anyone who watches this is certainly not going to be pused to read it. It's the worst case of book to movie I've ever seen!
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