The Memory Keeper's Daughter (TV 2008)

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.

Director:

Mick Jackson

Writers:

John Pielmeier (teleplay), Kim Edwards (novel)

Stars:

Emily Watson, Dermot Mulroney, Hugh Thompson

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Emily Watson	...	Caroline Gil
Dermot Mulroney	...	Dr. David Henry
Hugh Thompson	...	Al
Krystal Hope Nausbaum	...	Phoebe
Rob Stewart
Gretchen Mol	...	Norah Henry
Emma Colbert	...	Phoebe 6 years
Tyler Stentiford	...	Paul 13 years
Jamie Spilchuk	...	Paul 18-22 years
Owen Pattison	...	Paul 6 years
Gay Hauser	...	Department Store Clerk
Bruce Murphy	...	Checkout Clerk
Lita Llewellyn	...	Ruby
Kerry McPherson	...	Kay
Jeremy Akerman	...	The Minister

Storyline

On a snowy winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry rushes his pregnant wife Norah to the hospital, where, with help from her husband and nurse Caroline Gill, she delivers their son Paul. However, Dr. Henry discovers that his wife was carrying twins, and helps her deliver the second child, a baby girl named Phoebe. Shortly after Phoebe's birth, he finds that she has Down Syndrome, and hands her over to Nurse Caroline, explaining that the death of his ill sister nearly destroyed their mother and he doesn't want Norah to go through that. Instead, he instructs Caroline to take Phoebe to a nearby institution for the mentally ill, figuring the child won't live much longer, and tells Norah that Phoebe was a stillborn. However, after visiting the institution and seeing the state of the other patients, Caroline takes the baby home with her, stopping along the way to buy formula and diapers. With help from a truck driver named Al, Caroline begins to raise the baby as her own, while Dr. Henry ...

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Plot Keywords:

twin | down syndrome | nurse | truck driver | obsession | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 April 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

El guardián de la memoria

Filming Locations:

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jaffe/Braunstein Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Phoebe is born David notices her defects. He mentions "mongoloid" babies, and they show a hand with deformed fingers as one of her defects. In all other shots with Phoebe she has normal hands.

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Quotes

Nora Henry: [burning the pictures from the darkroom and referring to David] Bastard! That bastard!

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Connections

Featured in The 60th Primetime Emmy Awards (2008)

User Reviews

OK...pretty good

I'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.