Means of Grace

Summary: Through one woman's intimate story, Means of Grace brings to light the painful intersection of women's roles, mental illness, and the 1950's. Ann Clements Conger was an ambitious journalist in the 1940's. In the 1950's she became a mother, and torn between her domestic roles and her career, she began a frightening journey into the world of hallucinations, tranquilizers and institutionalization. Diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia, she, like thousands of other American women, was committed against her will, and given electric shock therapy. Through the use of home movie footage, archival footage and dramatizations, Means of Grace raises questions about social control, definitions of madness, the nuclear family, women's roles and the Cold War. We meet her daughter, the filmmaker, as she wrestles with questions of doubt, shame, understanding and resoultion. Means of Grace is a presentation of the Independent Television Service (ITVS). Produced by Watermark Media for the Independent Television Service.