Viviane's Family Journey

Bruce Von Stiers

What would you do if you found out your heritage wasn't really yours? That is the crux of a new documentary titled The Last of the Winthrops.

Viviane Winthrop was the acting chief dentist for a prison. But due to budget cuts, her position was eliminated. Her job was her life. She had wanted a family, but the job ended up being her family. Feeling a bit adrift, Viviane decides that she is going to begin a journey to trace her heritage. The documentary follows Viviane through this journey, with all of the highs and lows, blemishes and beauty.

Viviane co-wrote the film with Adam Singer. He also produced the film The two of them also co-directed the film. Singer has produced two other documentaries. The cinematography was done by Eduardo Servello. He was the cinematographer for a whole bunch of short films and a few feature films. The film also has a nice orchestral soundtrack that was managed by Shie Rozow. He has a rather extensive pedigree, ranging from the music editor on several feature films to series such as Stargirl. Christopher Seward was the film's story editor and Sergio Miranda was the film editor.

The film has a play time of an hour and twenty-three minutes.

The film begins in Paris, France. Vivian in on the phone and cries that she missed the life she thought she had. This starts a whole chain of events in her life. Someone who might be a relative reaches out via a text message trying to find out some information about her.

“How much does our DNA affect our sense of belonging?” is what Vivian asks a short time later.

Every decision that she has or hasn't made in her life was influenced by her family name and heritage. One of her ancestors was the first Governor of Massachusetts. And throughout the family's history, there have been notable people. There were politicians, bankers, and scholars among Vivian's ancestors.

When Viviane was 14, her family moved to Arizona, for her dad's health. After losing her job, Viviane moves back home to Sedona, Arizona.

Dr. Andre Metcalf is a long-time friend of Viviane's. He is interviewed. He says that she was a fun loving person but became somewhat different any time they would visit her parents together. And she always spoke about being a Winthrop more than being anything else.

She was born in Montreal. Her mom was the main breadwinner, teaching piano. Her dad was an actor, primarily a Shakespearean actor. He really wanted to go to Hollywood and be an actor there. But that never happened so he felt he'd never really made it as an actor. And he wasn't eager to join with other family members in the political arena.

Viviane never felt that she was good enough. And her mother kind of homed in on that, causing Viviane undue angst. To this day, Viviane only wants to please her mom and have her approval.

We see Viviane going through some things, finding several computer discs. These apparently have past audio messages from her father.

Viviane talks with Brian Schellenberg on the phone. He is a research manager for the genealogy company AncestryProGenealogists. Brian is heard in a voiceover about how doing genealogy research can be a little as a few hours or take many months or longer.

As Viviane continues on her journey she actually takes a physical journey. First, she goes to England to visit her family's ancestral home. She gets to go to some of the places that her father had talked about. She also meets with a genealogical researcher who fills Viviane in on a bunch of the family's history in the U.K. And she meets an old friend of her mothers who also fleshes out some more of the history of Viviane's father and his family.

The journey takes Viviane to France where, once again, she learns more about the family.

At one point in the journey sequences, Viviane laments that she very well might be the last of the Winthrops. And I can relate to that. My dad was an only son, I am an only son, and I have only one child, also a son. So, if my son never has a male child, well, there goes the lineage.

As Viviane learns more about the Winthrops, she finds out about some scandals. Those include children whose birth parents weren't sometimes married to each other. It seems the French weren't as Puritanical as their British or American brethren.

Just as she is soaking up all this history and heritage, Viviane learns a shocking truth. Her father was not her biological father.

The remainder of the film is about Viviane coming to terms with the revelation of her birth father and that she has a whole other family out there that she has no idea about.

From feeling alone and unworthy to having a new family that embraces you, the film does a good job of detailing those emotions.

I really liked the film. I wasn't too sure how everything would fall into place with the journey. But the film showed Viviane's vulnerability and strengths in trying to learn about her family's past and the ultimate discovery of her true heritage. The theme is really about you are not alone, and we are all family.

Brian puts a final spin on things in that he says “family is who you love and who loves you.”

The film is available on iTunes and Amazon.

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© 2023 Bruce E Von Stiers