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The Dionne Quintuplets

The Dionne Quintuplets

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Nov 19, 1978

Runtime

1h 30m

Genres

Documentary

Original Title

The Dionne Quintuplets

Production Companies

CBC, ONF | NFB

Director

Donald Brittain

Description

In 1934, Elzire Dionne delivered five identical girls. The Dionne Quintuplets follows Cecile, Emilie, Marie, Yvonne and Annette through twenty-one years of strange upbringing. When the girls were just infants, the premier of Ontario issued a court order removing them from parental care. Cut off from the world and their family, over-publicized, viewed twice daily in a special viewing compound, they grew up as prize exhibits. Director Donald Brittain uses old newsreel footage, home-movie sequences and interviews to depict a historic event that became a tragic exploitation of a family.