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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Drama · History · TV Movie · 2017

An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.

Movie details

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

“Discover what you are made of”

2017 Drama · History · TV Movie 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

An African-American woman becomes an unwitting pioneer for medical breakthroughs when her cells are used to create the first immortal human cell line in the early 1950s.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

George C. Wolfe

Written by

George C. Wolfe · Peter Landesman · Alexander Woo

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey

Deborah Lacks

Rose Byrne

Rose Byrne

Rebecca Skloot

Renée Elise Goldsberry

Renée Elise Goldsberry

Henrietta Lacks

Reg E. Cathey

Reg E. Cathey

Zakariyyah

Courtney B. Vance

Courtney B. Vance

Sir Lord Keenan Coefield

Rocky Carroll

Rocky Carroll

Sonny Lacks

Leslie Uggams

Leslie Uggams

Sadie

Court is in session

Put The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.