Memorable, no, but addictive

“The Memory Keeper’s Daughter,” which premieres tonight on Lifetime, is one of those movies that should be better than it is, the kind of show best watched while doing something else -- the ironing, perhaps, or some light weightlifting.

The work is adapted from Kim Edwards’ tear-jerking bestseller of the same name with a cast that includes the brilliant (Emily Watson), the beautiful (Gretchen Mol) and the ever-dependable (Dermot Mulroney), but it suffers from too much of a muchness -- a surfeit of drama that marches dutifully across the screen as if determined to meet an emotional assault deadline rather than actually move the viewer. Yes, tears will be shed, moments of truth and beauty illuminated (I did mention that Emily Watson stars, right?) but the title notwithstanding, nothing that happens here remains in your memory very long.

From the moment Nora Henry (Mol) goes into labor on a dark and snowy night in 1964, you know things will not go well, and they don’t. The doctor has an accident on the way to the clinic and so Nora’s husband, David (Mulroney), also a doctor, must deliver his own child. Or rather children, as the stunningly quick birth of a perfect baby boy is followed by the surprising birth of a twin girl, who obviously suffers from Down syndrome.

Having endured the heartache of watching a beloved sister die from a birth defect, David instantly decides to spare his anesthetized wife the grief of loving a child he assumes will not live very long. He hands the baby over to Caroline (Watson), his nurse, and directs her to a local institution. Out into the snow she goes, but the institution is snake-pit horrible.

So spurred by compassion and a secret crush on David, Caroline chooses to take baby Phoebe and raise her on her own. Stopping at a market for milk and diapers, she runs out of gas and, alone in the snow with this newborn, is rescued by a friendly trucker who instantly falls in love with her. Back in the clinic, David tearfully tells Nora she had twins but the girl died.

All of this and more, including strange black-and-white flashbacks to David’s apparent Appalachian childhood, occur within the first five minutes of the movie. It does. I swear. And that should tell you something about its pacing problem.

I understand that the events of the book are all crucial and had to be faithfully represented, but it would have been nice if screenwriter John Pielmeier and director Mick Jackson could have figured out a less galloping way to make the film. Because galloping so easily tips into melodrama and that is where “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” spends far too much of its time.

The story follows twin themes: the destructive nature of secrets and the joy that can be found in accepting life on life’s terms. Nora never quite recovers from what she believes was the death of her daughter and David never quite recovers from the decision he made.

Over the years, their marriage suffers, their son suffers, Nora copes by going through a period of heavy drinking, then a career, then adultery, her hair and clothing style changing with the times, sort of like “Mad Men” but on Lifetime. David, nursing his secret, takes solace in photography, capturing every moment of his son’s life as if to make up for the fact that he is completely missing his daughter’s.

Meanwhile, Caroline becomes a staunch advocate for her daughter’s rights and through the march of time we see the fight for mainstreaming and the adoption of “Down’s” as a replacement of “Mongoloid” or “retarded.” Phoebe, played winningly by Emma Colbert as a child and Krystal Nausbaum as teen and adult, is a delightful child, so it’s not surprising that David, at long last, wants her “in his life.”

As people tortured in one way or another by fate and a single decision, the leads do their best with what they’ve been given, and my gosh it is good to see Watson on screen again no matter what the circumstance. But there is so much narrative ground to cover, so many emotional moments to hit, that the performances come off a bit like scenes from an acting class -- OK, now it’s five years later and you’re embarking on an affair; OK, it’s 10 years later and you’re divorced.

Stripped down to their essential ingredients, these lives lack the alchemy to make them believably whole. (Also, what’s with the horrible wig and fat suit foisted on Mulroney in his final scene? Why should he have to age when Mol doesn’t?)

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the bare-bones story -- twins separated at birth, one mother who thinks her child has died, another living in fear of losing the most important thing in her life -- is so compelling that you have to watch until the bitter end even though it’s pretty clear where it will all wind up. And so it does, right on cue, and three minutes later, it’s over, credits roll and five minutes after that, it’s like it never happened after all.

But at least all that ironing’s finally done.

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mary.mcnamara@latimes.com

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‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’

Where: Lifetime

When: 9 tonight

Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)