Yesterday's Children

This is a true story. Living in the middle US with her loving husband (Clancy Brown) and her teenage son (Kyle Howard), Jenny Cole (Jane Seymour) was pregnant with her second child. At the same time, she started having vivid, recurring dreams about a poor, big family living in Ireland about half a century ago. Jenny's memories became more and more intense. She talked about it to her mother, who showed Jenny her drawings about that small town, Malahide when she was a little girl. Jenny also went see a psychologist in hope to find out more about the Irish woman's life which constantly appeared in her dreams. In her memories, the woman, Mary Sutton had four children, one still born baby and soon later another baby girl. As well as her abusive husband. Jenny was determined to track down all the children, so she went to Ireland and her search began. She set out to make the Suttons reunite, after all these decades...

Mary Sutton's life was short misery. She died at the age of 37 due to ill health. Throughout her life she had never been treasured by her husband. Now Jenny believed that she was Mary in her past incarnation and that her mission was to bring Mary's children together, so Mary's last wish could be fulfilled...

The acting, the score are heartbreaking. The tale is simply touching. Now, the question is: Do you believe in reincarnation?

When I first watched this. It got to me. And now 4 years later, it still has the same effect on me. This movie has opened my eyes to the possibility of soul reincarnation. I do hope that someday this can come out on VHS/DVD. It is a wonderful movie and I think everyone should have a chance to see it.Jane Seymour is excellent in her double role as Jenny/Mary. I believe that the film does the story extreme justice. I hope that someday I can show my children this epic story. I being of Irish descent am particularly drawn to this film for obvious reasons. But no matter who you are this film will raise some questions about what happens after we die.I rate it a five star movie. Hopefully CBS will have the heart to release it.

Looking back to a life which is partly your own and partly shared by people from another time stretches the imagination -- one has to feel for these desperate souls trying to relate, drawing a strong parallel with the struggles we go through in relating to those within our own lifetime; the notion of reincarnation allows us to feel and empathize with souls reaching across time, a wonderful concept whether you can accept the idea scientifically or not. Be brave... jump out of science and let your soul discover the light fantastic! The acting was fine, the pace was perfect, the location scenery was charming, and the characters were positively Shakespearian...the oldest son spoke with his eyes, even though he was very old and his body had almost died, and he made aging feel what it is...powerful, wise, understanding and compassionate, qualities in aggregate which youth can only reach toward.

The book dealt with the reincarnation of Mary and how Jenny is compelled by the love and concern for her children felt the strong need to go back to her former family and how she finally brought the scattered family together. The film plays the reincarnation on a low key.This spoils the story and changes the full meaning of the main theme. The film ignores many important facts from the book.The book has a haunting grip on you and establishes many points in reincarnation. I cannot imagine Jenny Cockell allowing the changes that had been made to her story.

The priest plays a important role in the film whereas in the book he does not get involved in Jenny's research after the preliminary info. This does seem strange. The idea of Mary's spirit contacting Jenny does not get much importance in the book. I felt that the whole purpose of the book was lost in the film story. I do commend Jane Seymor on her moving performance.

They say you can't please everyone but with this movie Jane Seymour may have succeeded. What was there to not love about this movie? Absolutely NOTHING. It was sheer perfection from the beauty of the Irish countryside, the haunting gaelic music, the excellent script and direction to stellar acting by all especially Jane herself. This is the kind of movie Jane Seymour shines in! I was moved to tears throughout and riveted to my screen the entire 2 hours. Chemistry among all the cast was excellent and Jane was definitely at her finest here. Someone please tell this woman she doesnt need action movies to attract the advertisers, all she needs is an excellent movie like Yesterday's children! Kudos to all involved in this one, Writer, Director, Cast and Jane Seymour herself. I've now watched this one 5 times and it just gets better!