Dawn Jeffory

A poignant, inspiring and unusually sensitive drama about a young woman who flees her wealthy but domineering husband to take a job as a teacher in a backwoods school for the deaf. As Amy enters this world without sound, she teaches the deaf children to speak. And in return, they teach her to love.

Based on Christina Crawford's scandalous tell-all memoir, Mommie Dearest paints a portrait of a Joan Crawford the public never knew.

Outrageous and controversial, this is the story of legendary movie star Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) as she struggles for her career and battles the inner demons of her private life. This torment was manifested in her relationships with her adopted children, Christina (Diana Scarwid) and Christopher (Xander Berkeley). The public Crawford was a strong-willed, glamorous object of admiration, but Mommie Dearest reveals the private Crawford, the woman desperate to be a mother, adopting her children when she was single and trying to survive in a devastating industry that swallows careers thoughtlessly. The rage, the debilitating strain, and the terrifying descent into alcoholism and child abuse are graphically - and unforgettably – depicted in this film, based upon Christina Crawford's best-selling book.

A pregnant teen gives up her baby for adoption. Years later, she tracks down her grown son, but finds it difficult to forge a relationship.