Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi, a two-time Oscar nominee for The Mole Agent and The Eternal Memory, has established herself as one of the most sensitive voices in contemporary documentary filmmaking. In her latest project, Un Hijo Propio (A Child of My Own), the director broadens her horizons with her first production in Mexico. Using a hybrid format that combines the precision of documentary with the dramatic force of fiction, the film explores a controversial real-life case that took place in 2009 in Mexico City in which a young woman faked a pregnancy, triggering tragic legal consequences.
Alberdi discovered this story while conducting research at the Santa Martha Acatitla prison. After meeting Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza and hearing her firsthand testimony, the filmmaker decided to look beyond the sensationalism surrounding the story. Without absolving the protagonist of responsibility, the film examines the case as a symptom of a much larger cultural and systemic problem. By questioning the reproductive expectations women face, Alberdi and her screenwriters transform the tragedy into an uncomfortable mirror of our own collective obsessions.
After garnering praise at the Berlinale and Guadalajara film festivals, the feature-length documentary is finally available on Netflix. Get ready for a film that’s sure to shake us up and make us face a reality many would prefer to ignore.
What Is Un Hijo Propio About?
At just 17 years old, Alejandra Marín (played by Ana Celeste in the dramatizations) gets married with the hope of starting a large family, following the traditional model. At no point does she question what she wants to do with her life beyond fulfilling this expectation. However, after suffering several miscarriages, she finds her worth as a woman begin to be called into question. Far from finding understanding or receiving the support she needs to cope, Alejandra deals with constant criticism from her husband and her mother-in-law, who hold her responsible for the situation.
After suffering a third miscarriage and unable to bear the pressure, Alejandra decides to pretend that her pregnancy is proceeding normally. The thing is, what begins as a defense mechanism against her family’s demands takes an irreversible turn when she meets Mayra, a pregnant woman who has no plans to keep the baby she is carrying. Although an informal agreement between the two seems to resolve the protagonist’s crisis, reality soon proves more complicated.
For months, Alejandra forges ultrasound scans, alters her weight, and attends prenatal classes – to the point where she develops physical symptoms and ends up believing her own lie. But as the supposed due date approaches, her plan abruptly falls apart, and the documentary takes a drastic turn. From this point on, the audience is drawn into a disturbing reality in which the judicial investigation refutes her testimony and, among other things, reveals her mental breakdown. Suddenly, everything we thought we knew is turned upside down in a way that surpasses fiction.
An Ingenious Hybrid
One of the greatest strengths of Un Hijo Propio lies in its ingenious hybrid format, which combines elements of fictional film and conventional documentary. The movie’s two halves contrast Alejandra’s psychological dissociation with the criminal consequences of her actions.
The first half is a reenactment, based strictly on Alejandra’s testimony, using her voice-over as the narrative thread. With pastel tones, this fairy tale phase fully immerses the viewer in her psychological world. Or, as Alberdi explained to the BBC: “I’ve made [these scenes] look like a fairy tale because it’s Mendoza’s dream of what she wanted the experience to be, or it’s the way she’s telling the story to herself.”
The second half takes on the rigor of a documentary, shedding light on the truth. This segment presents official records, psychological reports, and direct interviews with those involved. Overall, Alberdi’s integration of actors, archival footage, and testimonies flows remarkably smoothly and, most importantly, offers a profound, reflective, and new perspective on the case.
Motherhood as a Social Mandate
By reconstructing the controversial 2009 criminal case known as “La Robachicos,” Un Hijo Propio lays bare the destructive impact of inflexible social mandates around motherhood. Over the course of its 96 minutes, the film shows how the protagonist’s own obsession with having children and the constant pressure from those around her led to the abduction of a newborn and a judicial tragedy.
In particular, Alejandra confronts the deeply rooted belief that a child is the pinnacle of personal fulfillment, marital pressure to perpetuate the family line, psychological abandonment following two miscarriages, and failures in hospital protocols.
Alejandra’s mental health crisis is consistent with public health statistics. Records from the National Institutes of Health estimate that between 10% and 20% of medically recognized pregnancies end in a spontaneous loss – an event that leads to high rates of anxiety, stress, and depression. This situation is exacerbated by cultures that minimize and silence trauma like Mexico’s. Un Hijo Propio never exonerates its protagonist, but it strives to dissect the structures that can push an ordinary person to a mental breakdown and commit a horrible crime.
At a pivotal moment, when Alejandra confesses, “I think my desire to be a mother is more about pleasing others,” she synthesizes the very essence of her personal history and the documentary.
Should I Watch It?
Un Hijo Propio is an unmissable cinematic experience. It is poignant and narratively unique, exposing the gravity of social pressures pushing women to motherhood. More than 15 years after these events, the documentary reminds us that, behind Alejandra’s charade and her subsequent crime, lies a cultural violence that we have yet to resolve.
