This film drama based on the Jodi Picoult novel of the same name approaches medical ethics, sisterhood, isolation and hope. The story follows the unusual life of Anna Fitzgerald. Anna’s older sister Kate has acute promyelocytic leukaemia and, before Anna was born, struggled to find a genetic match for various donations. Anna was conceived via in vitro fertilization to act as a donor for her sister. From her umbilical cord to stem cells and tissue, Anna has been donating to Kate all her life. When Kate’s kidneys fail, Anna has second thoughts whether she wants to donate a kidney as she realizes it could restrict her own life. Anna sues her parents for medical emancipation and struggles with feeling like she’s failing at her “only job in life” while at the same time wanting bodily autonomy.

Film · United States · 2009