My Sister's Keeper

Director: Nick Cassavetes
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Jason Patric, Sofia Vassilieva, Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin, Evan Ellingson, Thomas Dekker, Jeffrey Markle.
DVD release: 3 December 2009
Rated: M

Cassavetes wrings the emotion

Best-selling author Jodi Picoult writes books that deal with family relationships, and her novels often explore controversial themes and contemporary issues. A tear jerker of the first order, this moving adaptation of Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper is the latest film from Nick Cassavetes, the son of revered indie director John Cassavetes. He certainly has an affinity with these tear jerkers – after all, he previously made The Notebook, arguably the best romantic drama of the past decade.

When Sara (Cameron Diaz) and Brian Fitzgerald (Jason Patric, from The Lost Boys, Narc, etc) learn that their daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) has leukemia they desperately conceive another daughter to be a genetic match. But after eleven years of invasive surgical procedures to keep her sister alive, Anna (Abigail Breslin) decides that she has had enough. To the shock of her family, she hires a lawyer (Alec Baldwin) to sue for “medical emancipation”. It is a decision that tears her already fragile family apart and sets the scene for some emotional court room confrontations.

Cassavetes draws strong performances from his cast. For a long time Diaz has squandered her talents in a series of lightweight films and bland comedies. She delivers the best performance of her career here as the mother desperately driven to great lengths to ensure the survival of her daughter, oblivious to the emotional and physical damage she is inflicting on the rest of her family. Patric delivers a performance of quiet strength as the father who seems to be pushed aside, but who is actually the glue that holds the crumbling family together.

Breslin brings a fierce intelligence and maturity to her performance, and newcomer Vassilieva is heart breakingly good as the doomed Sofia. As the unconventional judge deciding the court case Joan Cusack is full of nervous tics and twitches. And Alec Baldwin, who has re-invented himself with his role on cult tv sitcom 30 Rock, delivers a solid performance as the lawyer who has his own reasons for taking on Anna’s case.

With a few exceptions – the ending has been changed for example – this is a reasonably faithful adaptation of Picoult’s novel. The biggest failing of the film is Cassavetes’ decision to stick with the novel’s multiple points of view narration, which doesn’t quite work on screen.

It is not hard to compare My Sister’s Keeper with the recent Spanish film Camino, a heart wrenching film that also dealt with a teenage girl dying of cancer. But that film was also a potent condemnation of the rigid doctrine of the Catholic Church that cautioned against potentially life saving medical procedures. Even though they take a different approach, both films feature strong mothers who fervently believe that they are doing the right thing by their dying daughters.

Cassavetes certainly wrings every drop of emotion from the characters and the scenario here – we have the terminally ill teenager, the dysfunctional family, and other key characters that have their own flaws and failings. Even though we are aware of Cassavetes’ overt manipulation the film is still very moving, and there will be buckets of tears by the end.

Greg King

Read more of Greg King's reviews at filmreviews.net.au

Send us your feedback on this review