Review: My Sister's Keeper
Jun 26 2009 by Barbara Hodgson, The Journal
BRINGING Jodi Picoult’s challenging novel to the screen was always going to be tough, but director Nick Cassavetes just about pulls it off.
My Sister’s Keeper is a modern moral dilemma. Sara Fitzgerald (Cameron Diaz) and husband Brian (Jason Patric) genetically engineer a sibling to be a blood and bone marrow donor for their sick daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva).
After years of painful operations to save her sister, who next needs a kidney transplant, 11-year-old Anna (Abigail Breslin) takes her parents to court to sue for the rights to her own body. Kate was diagnosed with leukaemia as a toddler, and her lawyer mum dropped everything to look after her. Clearly a supermum, she almost treats her daughter’s illness like a court battle.
But Sara’s intense focus takes its toll on the rest of the family, especially when she faces the real lawsuit brought by lawyer Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin).
The complex web of relations of family members – from forgotten son Jesse to the impenetrable bond between Anna and Kate – is handled sensitively through a series of voiceovers.
This works, in the main, to give the viewer an insight into each character’s thoughts but occasionally these sequences, using music and grainy flashbacks, detract from the action. Kate’s voice is one of the last to be introduced, but is perhaps the most poignant, as she reveals: “I don’t mind my disease killing me, but it’s killing my family too.” This is the crux of the film.
When Anna files a lawsuit, she claims she wants “medical emancipation” and to keep her kidney because she wants to do sport and have children, but it soon becomes clear there’s another pressing reason she’s desperate to hide.
Cassavetes, who won critical acclaim for The Notebook, steers the film just the right side of Hollywood schmaltz with his own brand of naturalism, and manages to keep it light for the most part, despite the heartbreaking story.
Diaz, best known as a comedy actress, gives a competent performance but it’s Oscar nominee Breslin who steals the show as Anna.
The most heartfelt scenes are between Vassilieva, 16, and Breslin.
Fans of the book should expect an entirely different ending.
