Who among us has not wondered what secrets our ancestral past might hold? The advent of inexpensive gene sequencing has brought many pleasant surprises, as many disappointments, and some real misery.
Still, wouldn’t it be wonderful to discover you were the great great grandchild of some prominent person – even royalty? Never mind the possibility that you might be the product of a distant unfortunate rape with the perpetrator hung by the neck until dead.
Here is another possibility: what if all your life you knew you were the product of a truly great and influential family. That is the story being told in this documentary.
The importance of the Winthrop family really begins with John Winthrop the Younger, son of a wealthy English family of landowners and merchants. He led an emigration of Puritans to the New World in 1630, eventually becoming the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Among his famous descendants are John Kerry, the current Secretary of State, and Dr. H.H. Holmes, a notorious Chicago serial killer of the 1890s. Both were/are eighth great-grandsons.
But this film is about Viviane Winthrop. Viviane was born in Canada, the daughter of Reginald and Claire Winthrop. Reginald was French, the last of his line of Winthrops. He married Claire in France, and they eventually emigrated to Canada and, finally, from there to Arizona. Being the tail-end of his branch of the Winthrop family brought with it the legends of wealth, influence, and social standing of several centuries, but very little else. Reginald became an actor, but never achieved the level of stardom to which he aspired. Despite this, he had a sophisticated bearing, as did his wife. Little Viviene, an only child, was brought up with the awe and pride of being part of a truly historic family.
And that is the problem. The Viviene Winthrop we meet is an insecure, unemployed woman who never felt she was good enough to please her father, or to live up to her potential as part of this family. This was probably behind her father’s own alcoholism and disappointment – information that comes out as the film progresses.
Viviene falls prey to people whose business is impressing their clients with how grand and important their forebears were, and she embarks on a tour of England and France in order to better understand where she came from. In the process, she is not only overwhelmed but also belittled. It is a distressing process to follow.
Then, out of the blue, comes information that she has siblings. Not just siblings, but she is not a Winthrop at all. Her father has passed away, but her mother still lives, and reveals that she had a brief affair with a flirtatious Moroccan during the early years of her marriage, and that her supposed father was sterile due to gas exposure by the invading Nazis during WWII. Note: I could not find any information on a gas that would make a boy sterile after one exposure.
She finally meets her extended “half family” made up of children from various mothers who share the same father. She is welcomed into their midst.
With the burden of being “a Winthrop” finally removed, perhaps Viviene can find peace and self worth for the rest of her life.
This is a difficult film to watch. Viviene is overly emotional and clearly unhappy, despite her “oohing and ahhing” over the magnificence of her supposed forbears. On the other hand, the cinematography, editing and music are great. Especially interesting is the 3-D treatment of family photos. They are far better than the sort one sees in he numerous Ken Burns historical documentaries for PBS.
Credits
Directors: Viviene Winthrop, Adam K. Singer
Writers: Christopher Seward, Adam K. Singer, Viviene Winthrop
Producer: Adam K. Singer
Cinematographer: Eduardo Servelio
Editor: Sergio Miranda
Music: Shie Razow
Runtime: One hour, 24 minutes
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