Directed by Maite Alberdi and written by Julian Loyola and Esteban Student, the profound desire to become a mother and pressure from her surroundings drive Alejandra to fake a pregnancy. What begins as a simple lie turns into a complex charade and unleashes a media scandal that makes it impossible for her to continue the pretence. Starring Ana Celeste, Armando Espitia and Luisa Guzmán.
With A Child of My Own, Maite Alberdi makes a key choice that will likely be the dividing line for viewers, determining whether or not they enjoy it, and that’s to have the first hour of a ninety minute film be dedicated to a dramatized recreation. Using recreations is far from anything new when it comes to documentaries, especially when they have a criminal element, even more so when it’s emotionally driven, but to have the majority of the film entirely from that perspective is a risky move. Does it pay off? That’s really something that’s going to differ for every viewer, you could easily argue both sides, but it is entertaining.
Another divisive element is how it deals with all the relevant topics, because its approach is not particularly direct. There is such a plethora of psychological issues at work here and viewers will be able to see that, but they don’t take the time to sincerely unpack them. It’s acknowledged quietly, what drove Alejandra’s choices. Although they do take a decent amount of time to recognise the overwhelming societal pressures on women to become mothers, coming from communities with traditional values and patriarchal views.
The perspective is intensely sympathetic to Alejandra, and you can see why Maite Alberdi chose that. These events occurred at a time where there was never going to be any understanding of Alejandra’s mental state. Even today there are still many people that stigmatize talking about miscarriages, and that culture of blame has not entirely disappeared as of yet. It’s transparent how Alberdi wanted to provide a platform to discuss that, which is a great idea, but it does still feel like it could have been dealt with more directly rather than spending an hour on that elongated recreation.
Although, you do absolutely have to credit Ana Celeste for her fantastic performance. We’ll never really know how well it reflects reality but it’s a vulnerable, desperate, strained portrayal. Celeste is a big part of what keeps you glued into A Child of My Own, while you await the real life subjects. She was very well paired with Armando Espitia as Alejandra’s husband Arturo. He perfectly ticks all those traditional masculinity boxes: wanting only a son, seeing miscarriages as his wife’s fault for not being ‘careful enough’, not speaking up when his mother directs slights at his wife. He does also get to explore outside of that box later on, which provides for some touching moments alongside Celeste.
A Child of My Own is a slightly strange experience, but one that’s not out of the ordinary for Netflix documentaries. As a general rule of thumb with any of them, it’s always good to reserve judgement until the credits roll, and that will serve you well here. To rely so heavily on that dramatized version of events and then switch to a traditional documentary is odd, but it works. There’s plenty of tension, great performances, and the blend of fact and fiction is well done. It’s simply a shame not to see it really get to grips with the psychological issues at the heart of this story. It’s nice to see Maite Alberdi build the film on such an empathetic foundation, but it’s lacking power by spending too much time on recreating what may have happened, rather than truly unpacking why it happened.
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