Product Details

• Actors: Sandy Ratcliff, Bill Dean, Grace Cave, Malcolm Tierney, Hilary Martin
• Directors: Ken Loach
• Producers: Family Life ( Wednesday's Child ), Family Life, Wednesday's Child
• Format: Import, PAL
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Optimum
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B001H1HEH8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,546 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Released in England as Wednesday's Child, this earnest socially conscious drama explores the generation-gap between a pair of overbearing, strict parents and their rebellious, pregnant daughter Sandy Ratcliff. First they force her to get an abortion. Then mom and dad further exert their power over Ratcliff by locking her out of the house until she ceases her troublesome ways. When this fails to 'tame' the girl, the parents force her into psychiatric treatment. Subjected to shock therapy, Sandy ends up a shell of a human being, little more than a case study for those who've robbed her of her individuality. Shot in documentary fashion, Family Life won a prize at the 1972 Berlin Film Festival. ...Family Life ( Wednesday's Child )

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Loach's sharp eye examining "Mental illness", July 10, 2011

By 

Les carbonnades flamandes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Family Life ( Wednesday's Child ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ] (DVD)

A very moving film. Lots of hand-held camera and seemingly unscripted or improvised dialogue make this a very live performance. When it was released 40 years ago, many teachers and psychiatrists disapproved because it raised issues that were "beyond the understanding of, and could frighten" ordinary untrained people. WEDNESDAY'S CHILD / FAMILY LIFE, under its two titles, illustrates some of R.D.Laing's views that a person can retreat into apparent mental illness as a way of protecting their sanity in a dysfunctional family setting. Although the film has an amateurish quality, this shouldn't be seen as a disqualification. If anything, it helps show that ordinary people living conventional family lives can find themselves declared ill. Moving and scary. Well worth viewing.