Deep in My Heart (1999) (TV)

Director:

Anita W. Addison

Writer (WGA):

Ronni Kern (written by)

Release Date:

14 February 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An adopted woman (Gloria Reuben), diagnosed with a severe medical condition is forced to find her birth mother in this fact-based story...

Plot Keywords:

Interracial Relationship

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Anne Bancroft	...	Gerry Eileen Cummins
Lynn Whitfield	...	Corrine Burrell
Alice Krige	...	Annalise Jurgenson
Cara Buono	...	Young Gerry Cummins
Gloria Reuben	...	Barbara Ann Williams
Jesse L. Martin	...	Don Williams
Kevin O'Rourke
Peter MacNeill		(as Peter MacNeil)
Albert Schultz	...	Paul Jurgenson
Jayne Eastwood	...	Mrs. Marsdon
Keenan Macwilliam	...	Young Barbara Ann
Philip Akin	...	Ob-gyn doctor
Brooke Belvedere	...	3-year-old Carol
Kiel Campbell	...	10-year-old Robert
Michael Capellupo	...	Ted Cummins
T.J. Callings	...	3-year-old Robert
Robert Fitzpatrick	...	Doctor
Olivia Kassardjian	...	Barbara age 5
Myrna King	...	Carol Cummins
Mpho Koaho	...	Roger
Nancy McAlear	...	Beach monitor
Michael Mitchell	...	Stevie
Merwin Mondesir	...	Lloyd
John O'Callaghan	...	Priest
Deborah Pollitt	...	Louise
Jessica Smith	...	Barbara at 13
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jordan Smith	...	Quinn

Directed by
Anita W. Addison

Writing credits (WGA)
Ronni Kern		(written by)

Produced by
Ronni Kern	....	co-producer
Frank Konigsberg	....	executive producer
Christine A. Sacani	....	producer
David Yarnell	....	producer

Original Music by
Debbie Wiseman

Cinematography by
Alar Kivilo

Film Editing by
Charles Bornstein

Casting by
Tina Gerussi

Production Design by
Marian Wihak

Costume Design by
Georgina Yarhi

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lorraine M. Kearsey	....	trainee assistant director

Art Department
Malcolm Byard	....	sets buyer
Kaija Vogel	....	art/design apprentice

Sound Department
Patrick Bietz	....	supervising sound editor
J. Stanley Johnston	....	sound re-recording mixer
Stacey Michaels	....	adr mixer
Elmo Ponsdomenech	....	sound re-recording mixer
Markus Wade	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Jim McGillivary	....	special effects coordinator

Visual Effects by
Ian Britton	....	motion graphics designer: computer displays (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert McRae	....	gaffer
Monty Montgomerie	....	first assistant key grip
Michael Rintoul	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sheila E. Pruden	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Asim Matin	....	first assistant editor

Other crew
Shane Birdsill	....	assistant to producer
Diane Pitblado	....	dialect coach

Distributors

• CBS Television

Special Effects

• LairdFX

Runtime:

Netherlands:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Nice companion piece to "A Family Thing"

A working-class Boston, married, white woman is raped by a black thug and has to give up the resulting child for adoption, despite the fact that she loves her. The girl grows up knowing two adoptive mothers -- one black, one white -- but when she becomes a wife and mother herself, finds that her children only know half of their family history, something the girl sets out to rectify.

The only element of this TV-movie that doesn't quite work is the sappy, schmaltzy 'women's music' (keening vocals sung to slightly-ethnic new agey themes) which needlessly well up at virtually every emotional moment. The picture stars four quality actresses in a strong story of interracial adoption; it's really an insult to their powers as thespians to insert wailing cries of sadness or elation as if the audience won't 'get' what is happening. They did this a lot in old Hollywood films, making many of them unwatchable today.

I would have liked to have seen more scenes with Alice Krige as Barbara's mom during her adolescence; not quite sure why it got such short shrift. Otherwise a good film with a similar theme to "A Family Thing", which stars Robert Duval and James Earl Jones as brothers who never knew that they share the same mother.