Taparjan’s ‘Something Familiar’ Traces Romanian Roots
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- Rachel Taparjan directed the documentary “Something Familiar,” which explores her adoption from a Romanian orphanage and her quest to locate her birth family.
- Taparjan was adopted as an infant by a British couple after their own daughter died, and the film shows archival TV footage of the adoption.
- Taparjan travels to Romania, reunites with her older brother Alexandu, and together they search for their sister Ana Maria, discovering that their birth mother has passed away.
- Something Familiar opens with the story of another adoptee, Mihaela, who was also taken from the same orphanage by an American family, but her segment is largely dropped after Taparjan’s own narrative begins.
- Taparjan uses actors to improvise as her mother, allowing her to ask pointed questions and reach a personal understanding despite the staged nature of the scenes.
- Something Familiar is noted for its earnest voiceover and moments of “couch psychoanalysis,” which some critics feel feel staged, yet its most powerful moments are the unscripted emotional exchanges with her siblings.
- Something Familiar is praised for revealing “raw and unresolved” inherited trauma, showing how Taparjan reconciles her messiness with vulnerability.
Why it matters: The film gives adoptees a rare on‑screen platform to confront inherited trauma, while audiences gain a candid look at the complexities of identity reconstruction; however, its staged mother‑figure scenes and overt voiceover may alienate viewers seeking unfiltered realism, underscoring the trade‑off between emotional honesty and artistic construction.
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