The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

In 1951, a young African American woman named Henrietta Lacks died of an aggressive cancer. Cells taken from her body without her knowledge were used to create the first immortal line of human cells, a discovery that enabled major advances in medicine. The film follows Henrietta's daughter Deborah, who teams up with journalist Rebecca Skloot to learn what happened to her mother and why her cells were taken from her family.

Based on Rebecca Skloot's nonfiction book, the film was directed by George C. Wolfe, who wrote the screenplay with Alexander Woo and Peter Landesman. It was produced by Kathryn Dean for HBO Films, Harpo Films and Cine Mosaic, and runs 93 minutes. Oprah Winfrey plays Deborah Lacks and Rose Byrne plays Rebecca Skloot, with Renée Elise Goldsberry as Henrietta Lacks. The cast also includes Reg E. Cathey, Courtney B. Vance and Rocky Carroll, among 60 credited performers. Wolfe's earlier feature credits include Nights in Rodanthe (2008) and You're Not You (2014); he went on to direct Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) and Rustin (2023).

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.4 from about 4,200 votes, and on TMDB it is rated 6.3 from 114 votes. Film critics gave it a rating of 6.5 from 35 reviews.