A Place for Annie
Director: John Gray
Cast: Sissy Spacek, Joan Plowright, Kathy Anderson, Linda Carlson, Mary-Louise Parker, Jack Noseworthy, S. Epatha Merkerson, David Spielberg
There is a story in the Bible about a wise and noble king named Solomon who faced an impossible decision. Two women had come before the king, both claiming to be the mother of the same child. Compelled by his infinite wisdom, King Solomon ordered that his servant take up his sword and divide the child in half, giving one half of the baby to each woman. One woman cried out for the king to spare the child’s life while the other, blinded by her desire for the living child, rather than the baby she had lost, agreed to the king’s proposal to have the child killed. When Solomon heard the first woman’s prayer for mercy, he spared the child’s life, and gave the child to his true mother, for he recognized that as a mother, she would rather protect the child by relinquishing him to the other woman, than watch him suffer for her sake.
This heartbreakingly beautiful story is reflected perfectly in the film “A Place for Annie.” Baby Annie (Kathy and Leslie Anderson) is H.I.V. positive and has been abandoned in a clinic by her drug addicted mother, Linda (Mary-Louise Parker). To prevent Annie from being taken to another hospital where she would wait to die, alone and unloved, a kind-hearted nurse named Susan Lansing (Sissy Spacek) takes charge of Annie and brings Annie home. Two years later, Susan plans to adopt Annie – but her journey towards being Annie’s mother is threatened when Annie's birth mother reappears and demands to have her daughter back. And under the law, Susan, as a foster mother, has no claim to the child. Will a mother’s love be enough to protect Annie from a life of rejection and pain?
One of the strongest themes in this film is the power of a mother’s love, and nowhere does a mother’s love shine more brightly, than in the characters of Susan and Linda and the love which entwines these two mothers with their shared daughter, Annie.
When Annie is born, she is H.I.V. positive and she has been abandoned by her drug addicted mother, Linda. Although she is initially reluctant and even scared to be Annie’s mother when she finds her daughter again, Linda’s motherlove for Annie is finally revealed when she secretly goes to her daughter’s bedroom, in the middle of the night, and apologizes to Annie for everything she failed to do as Annie’s mother. When Linda decides to go to hospice, she goes, once again, when her daughter is sleeping, to say goodbye to her daughter. In this moment, she takes the photographs of her holding Annie, allowing herself this one precious keepsake, to remind Linda of the moment of happiness that she felt as Annie’s mother. When Linda learns that her precious daughter has not been infected with the HIV virus, she chooses to finish her battle with AIDs in hospice, so her daughter doesn’t have to watch her mother die. Linda’s love for Annie is ultimately expressed when Linda chooses to entrust her precious daughter to the people who had become her true family because she knew that they would love Annie best. Like the mother in the Bible story, Linda’s love for her daughter is what reveals that she is Annie’s birth mother. She gave the mother role to Susan so that Annie could have her best chance at a happy life, being raised by a loving mother, rather than growing up orphaned and alone. This last gift to her daughter was, indeed, a most precious gift.
Although the hospital staff try to find Annie a new home, no one will accept Annie because she is HIV positive and nobody wants to adopt a baby, just to watch her suffer and die…no one, that is, except a kind-hearted nurse named Susan. Although her maternal bond with Annie is not the same as the bond Annie shares with her birth mother, Linda, Susan’s motherlove for Annie is just as strong. It is her love and concern for little Annie which compels Susan to become Annie’s foster mother, so she can protect this child from dying alone and unloved, in a cold and sterile hospital nursery…a place, Susan is told, where children are sent, not to find a loving family to adopt them, but as a place where these children will eventually die.
Another form of maternal love is reflected in the characters of Susan and Linda and the bond that is connected to mothers that entwines these two women.
The love that both mothers have for Annie is shown after Linda returns to fight Susan for custody of Annie. While initially the women clash over which of them is Annie’s true mother, it is their shared love for Annie, and their shared grief of having broken relationships with their own mothers; relationships that they very much want to heal but can’t, which allows these women to bond. As the walls of ice around each of their hearts begins to thaw, they find a different kind of maternal bond with each other, with Susan becoming a maternal figure not only to Annie and her son, but to Linda, as well. Susan’s greatest moment of love for Linda is illustrated when she gives Linda a most precious gift…the knowledge that their shared daughter, Annie, is healthy and that she will get to grow up and be a beautiful, healthy young woman…and her heartfelt promises to Linda, that when Annie grows up, she will know how much her mother loved her. Linda’s greatest moment of love for Susan occurs when she gives Annie the letter she wrote, naming her as Annie’s new guardian and telling her daughter that Susan is now her mother.
I am a daughter who has lost two Moms in my life, and this story, A Place for Annie, struck a particularly heartfelt cord for me, as I watched this little girl with her two mothers. It reminded me of when I was a little girl with a scary medical diagnosis and how my parents fought for me to have my best chance. This film tells a beautiful, heartwrenching story about a beautiful little girl named Annie and the two mothers who love her more than anything. The casting for this film is excellent, particularly for Sissy Spacek and Mary-Louise Parker who both portray the strength and maternal love of a real mother while raising this precious baby. This is a film I would highly recommend.
© 2024 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.
Director: John Gray
Cast: Sissy Spacek, Joan Plowright, Kathy Anderson, Linda Carlson, Mary-Louise Parker, Jack Noseworthy, S. Epatha Merkerson, David Spielberg
There is a story in the Bible about a wise and noble king named Solomon who faced an impossible decision. Two women had come before the king, both claiming to be the mother of the same child. Compelled by his infinite wisdom, King Solomon ordered that his servant take up his sword and divide the child in half, giving one half of the baby to each woman. One woman cried out for the king to spare the child’s life while the other, blinded by her desire for the living child, rather than the baby she had lost, agreed to the king’s proposal to have the child killed. When Solomon heard the first woman’s prayer for mercy, he spared the child’s life, and gave the child to his true mother, for he recognized that as a mother, she would rather protect the child by relinquishing him to the other woman, than watch him suffer for her sake.
This heartbreakingly beautiful story is reflected perfectly in the film “A Place for Annie.” Baby Annie (Kathy and Leslie Anderson) is H.I.V. positive and has been abandoned in a clinic by her drug addicted mother, Linda (Mary-Louise Parker). To prevent Annie from being taken to another hospital where she would wait to die, alone and unloved, a kind-hearted nurse named Susan Lansing (Sissy Spacek) takes charge of Annie and brings Annie home. Two years later, Susan plans to adopt Annie – but her journey towards being Annie’s mother is threatened when Annie's birth mother reappears and demands to have her daughter back. And under the law, Susan, as a foster mother, has no claim to the child. Will a mother’s love be enough to protect Annie from a life of rejection and pain?
One of the strongest themes in this film is the power of a mother’s love, and nowhere does a mother’s love shine more brightly, than in the characters of Susan and Linda and the love which entwines these two mothers with their shared daughter, Annie.
When Annie is born, she is H.I.V. positive and she has been abandoned by her drug addicted mother, Linda. Although she is initially reluctant and even scared to be Annie’s mother when she finds her daughter again, Linda’s motherlove for Annie is finally revealed when she secretly goes to her daughter’s bedroom, in the middle of the night, and apologizes to Annie for everything she failed to do as Annie’s mother. When Linda decides to go to hospice, she goes, once again, when her daughter is sleeping, to say goodbye to her daughter. In this moment, she takes the photographs of her holding Annie, allowing herself this one precious keepsake, to remind Linda of the moment of happiness that she felt as Annie’s mother. When Linda learns that her precious daughter has not been infected with the HIV virus, she chooses to finish her battle with AIDs in hospice, so her daughter doesn’t have to watch her mother die. Linda’s love for Annie is ultimately expressed when Linda chooses to entrust her precious daughter to the people who had become her true family because she knew that they would love Annie best. Like the mother in the Bible story, Linda’s love for her daughter is what reveals that she is Annie’s birth mother. She gave the mother role to Susan so that Annie could have her best chance at a happy life, being raised by a loving mother, rather than growing up orphaned and alone. This last gift to her daughter was, indeed, a most precious gift.
Although the hospital staff try to find Annie a new home, no one will accept Annie because she is HIV positive and nobody wants to adopt a baby, just to watch her suffer and die…no one, that is, except a kind-hearted nurse named Susan. Although her maternal bond with Annie is not the same as the bond Annie shares with her birth mother, Linda, Susan’s motherlove for Annie is just as strong. It is her love and concern for little Annie which compels Susan to become Annie’s foster mother, so she can protect this child from dying alone and unloved, in a cold and sterile hospital nursery…a place, Susan is told, where children are sent, not to find a loving family to adopt them, but as a place where these children will eventually die.
Another form of maternal love is reflected in the characters of Susan and Linda and the bond that is connected to mothers that entwines these two women.
The love that both mothers have for Annie is shown after Linda returns to fight Susan for custody of Annie. While initially the women clash over which of them is Annie’s true mother, it is their shared love for Annie, and their shared grief of having broken relationships with their own mothers; relationships that they very much want to heal but can’t, which allows these women to bond. As the walls of ice around each of their hearts begins to thaw, they find a different kind of maternal bond with each other, with Susan becoming a maternal figure not only to Annie and her son, but to Linda, as well. Susan’s greatest moment of love for Linda is illustrated when she gives Linda a most precious gift…the knowledge that their shared daughter, Annie, is healthy and that she will get to grow up and be a beautiful, healthy young woman…and her heartfelt promises to Linda, that when Annie grows up, she will know how much her mother loved her. Linda’s greatest moment of love for Susan occurs when she gives Annie the letter she wrote, naming her as Annie’s new guardian and telling her daughter that Susan is now her mother.
I am a daughter who has lost two Moms in my life, and this story, A Place for Annie, struck a particularly heartfelt cord for me, as I watched this little girl with her two mothers. It reminded me of when I was a little girl with a scary medical diagnosis and how my parents fought for me to have my best chance. This film tells a beautiful, heartwrenching story about a beautiful little girl named Annie and the two mothers who love her more than anything. The casting for this film is excellent, particularly for Sissy Spacek and Mary-Louise Parker who both portray the strength and maternal love of a real mother while raising this precious baby. This is a film I would highly recommend.
© 2024 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.