My Sister's Keeper

These are my notes for our most recent screening.  I struggled to find postive news about the film and was not looking forward to it, but in the event it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I've not read the book, but apparently the plot is quite differeent - to the extent of killing of the younger sister rather than letting the older one die....


My Sister’s Keeper


USA 2009 106 minutes

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Starring: Abigail Bresslin, Sofia Vassilieva, Alec Baldwin, Cameron Diaz and Emily Deschanel

Nominations and Awards

• One win and four nominations

Anna Fitzgerald (Abigail Bresslin) was conceived to be a genetic match for her sister Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) who is suffering from leukaemia. When Kate suffers from renal failure Anna sues her parents for legal emancipation in order to prevent them forcing her to donate a kidney. Her overprotective mother Anna (Cameron Diaz), who has given up a successful career as a lawyer to look after her sick daughter, is horrified when the case comes to trial in court but finally learns the reason why Anna has acted in this way.

The film is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Jodi Picoult which has the privilege of being among the top ten of the American Library Association’s list of the most challenged books of 2009 (the list also includes such classics as To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye and The Color Purple).

Director Nick Cassavetes (who also co-wrote the script) is the son of film director John Cassavetes. He started his career in films as an actor before directing such films as John Q, Alpha Dog, She’s So Lovely, Unhook the Stars and The Notebook.