A Girl Like Her (2012)

Directed by

Ann Fessler

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

48 min

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 1 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary collects stories from women who were pushed to give up their babies for adoption in America from the 1940s to the early 1970s. Their personal accounts are layered over old educational films and newsreels about dating, sex, and pregnancy from that time. The film shows how secrecy and social pressure affected them then and for years after.

somberreflectivearchivalintimateeducationalpoignantquietly angrystripped-down

What happens

A Girl Like Her is a 2012 American documentary film by Ann Fessler about women who lost children to adoption in the United States between the end of World War II and the early 1970s due to the social pressures of the time, in a period now known as the Baby Scoop Era. Fessler combines the voices of the women with footage from educational films and newsreels about dating, sex, “illegitimate” pregnancy and adoption. The women's stories unfold over footage of life in post-World War II America. Educational films offer guidance about dating and sex, and scripted newsreels shed light on adoption in an era when secrecy prevailed and adoptable babies were thought to be “unwanted” by their mothers. As the footage illuminates the past, the women's stories form a collective narrative as they recount their experiences of dating, pregnancy, family reaction, banishment, and the long-term impact of surrender and silence on their lives. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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