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* DestroyTheAbusiveHome: The ultimate fate of the Baniszewski home. While plans were made to restore the house as a shelter for abused girls, funding fell through, with many in the community blaming lack of donations on the location being too heavily overshadowed by the murder. Two years after the film's release and almost forty-five years after Sylvia's murder, the house was demolished.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Much of what happens to Sylvia falls under this. The first beating happened because the girls' parents' payment was late, and because Gertrude believed Sylvia was telling lies about Paula.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Much of what happens to Sylvia falls under this. The first beating happened because the girls' parents' payment was late, and because Gertrude believed Sylvia was telling lies about Paula.
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Creator/EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia and her sister Jenny are left for an extended stay at the home of Gertrude and her six children.
Times are tough and the increasingly unstable Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the neighborhood join in.
Times are tough and the increasingly unstable Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the neighborhood join in.
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Creator/EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski.
In 1965, the troubled Likens parents are forced to leave their teenage daughters Sylvia and Jenny with strangers while they work the season with a traveling carnival. Based on one meeting, father Lester Likens leaves his girls in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski, an impoverished mother with six children and more than enough troubles of her own.
At first things seem okay. Sylvia and Jenny get along well with the Baniszewski children, and Sylvia befriends eldest daughter Paula Baniszewski.Sylvia and her sister Jenny are left for an extended stay at the home of But Gertrude and begins to resent these strangers amongst her six children.
Times are tough andown family, blaming them for all their recent troubles. Gradually her rage begins to focus exclusively on sixteen-year-old Sylvia, who seems to embody everything Gertrude lacks: youth, beauty, spirit, exuberance, hope. All things that Sylvia must be punished for.
For these sins, Gertrude confines Sylvia to theincreasingly unstable grim, dark basement of the Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out home, where Gertrude, her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the children, and--eventually--the neighborhood join in.kids gather to "punish" her. Until Sylvia learns her lesson.
That lesson culminated in what state prosecutors later called "the worst crime ever committed against a single person in the state of Illinois."
Released in 2007, the film was released alongside another adaptation of the Likens case, ''Literature/TheGirlNextDoor''. Unlike ''The Girl Next Door,'' which is highly fictionalized and takes a great number of liberties with the case, ''An American Crime'' is based heavily on the actual trial of Gertrude Baniszewski and sticks more closely to the facts.
In 1965, the troubled Likens parents are forced to leave their teenage daughters Sylvia and Jenny with strangers while they work the season with a traveling carnival. Based on one meeting, father Lester Likens leaves his girls in the care of Gertrude Baniszewski, an impoverished mother with six children and more than enough troubles of her own.
At first things seem okay. Sylvia and Jenny get along well with the Baniszewski children, and Sylvia befriends eldest daughter Paula Baniszewski.
Times are tough and
For these sins, Gertrude confines Sylvia to the
That lesson culminated in what state prosecutors later called "the worst crime ever committed against a single person in the state of Illinois."
Released in 2007, the film was released alongside another adaptation of the Likens case, ''Literature/TheGirlNextDoor''. Unlike ''The Girl Next Door,'' which is highly fictionalized and takes a great number of liberties with the case, ''An American Crime'' is based heavily on the actual trial of Gertrude Baniszewski and sticks more closely to the facts.
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* CompositeCharacter: Patty Ryan is a composite of three real-life girls involved in the historical events - Darlene [=MacGuire=], Anna Siscoe and Judy Duke.
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* CompositeCharacter: Patty Ryan is a composite of three real-life girls involved in the historical events - Darlene [=MacGuire=], Anna Siscoe and Judy Duke. It says something about the horror of the case that ''so many outside people'' were involved that some of them had to be condensed for the sake of clarity.
** Paula Banszewski seems to experience a crisis of guilt when she timidly suggests that maybe Sylvia's been punished enough. Paula then gives the family pastor a very, very abbreviated version of what's been happening at the house, prompting him to visit and inquire about Sylvia. Gertrude lies to his face and eventually he leaves without intervening.
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* PosthumousNarration : Sylvia is telling her own story.
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* PosthumousNarration : PosthumousNarration: Sylvia is telling her own story.
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* TakeMeInstead: When Gertie is about to beat both Likens girls, Sylvia offers to take both beatings to spare her disabled sister.
* TeenPregnancy: Gertrude had her oldest daughter Paula at a young age, and Paula herself gets pregnant by her cheating boyfriend. Gertrude is unable to deal with the thought that Paula made the same mistake she did, leading her to blame poor Sylvia and ultimately torture her to death.
* TeenPregnancy: Gertrude had her oldest daughter Paula at a young age, and Paula herself gets pregnant by her cheating boyfriend. Gertrude is unable to deal with the thought that Paula made the same mistake she did, leading her to blame poor Sylvia and ultimately torture her to death.
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* TakeMeInstead: When Gertie is about to beat both Likens girls, Sylvia offers to take both beatings to spare her disabled sister.
sister. This appears to be the ''one'' point in the film that was invented for drama; in real life, Gertrude initially beat both girls indiscriminately before focusing on Sylvia.
* TeenPregnancy: Gertrude had her oldest daughter Paula at a young age, and Paula herself gets pregnant by hercheating married, much-older boyfriend. Gertrude is unable to deal with the thought that Paula made the same mistake she did, leading her to blame poor Sylvia and ultimately torture her to death.
* TeenPregnancy: Gertrude had her oldest daughter Paula at a young age, and Paula herself gets pregnant by her
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* YankTheDogsChain: There comes a point where we're lead to believe that Sylvia will escape and be reunited with her family. The audience knows this won't last.
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* YankTheDogsChain: YankTheDogsChain:
** There comes a point where we're lead to believe that Sylvia will escape and be reunited with her family. The audience knows this won't last.
** There's also a ''literal'' moment of Yanking The Dog's Chain when young Johnny Baniszewski torments the family's starving chained-up pooch by leaving its food bowl just out of its reach. While it seems to be symbolic of Johnny's budding sadism and his later role in torturing Sylvia (as well as Sylvia's own situation), this scene is actually taken from real life.
** There comes a point where we're lead to believe that Sylvia will escape and be reunited with her family. The audience knows this won't last.
** There's also a ''literal'' moment of Yanking The Dog's Chain when young Johnny Baniszewski torments the family's starving chained-up pooch by leaving its food bowl just out of its reach. While it seems to be symbolic of Johnny's budding sadism and his later role in torturing Sylvia (as well as Sylvia's own situation), this scene is actually taken from real life.
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Creator/EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia and her sister are left for an extended stay at the home of Gertrude and her six children.
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Creator/EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia and her sister Jenny are left for an extended stay at the home of Gertrude and her six children.
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Gertrude and her family are found guilty for their involvement in Sylvia's death, but Sylvia of course is dead and it's implied that her sister and parents will forever endure the trauma of what happened to her for years to come. One bright spot is Sylvia's ghost finding comfort at her parents's carvinal, the only place she felt safe.]]
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Gertrude and her family are found guilty for their involvement in Sylvia's death, but Sylvia of course is dead and it's implied that her sister and parents will forever endure the trauma of what happened to her for years to come. One bright spot is Sylvia's ghost finding comfort at her parents's carvinal, carnival, the only place she felt safe.]]
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* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: What Gertrude did to Sylvia in real life was even worse than what the movie shows. The same applies to Paula, whose portrayal in the film implies that she had some sympathy for Sylvia. The RealLife Paula felt the same about torturing Sylvia as her mother did.
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* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: What Gertrude did to Sylvia in real life was even worse ''even worse'' than what the movie shows.shows (there's no mention, for instance, of how Gertrude, besides the physical abuse, deliberately starved both Sylvia and Jenny). The same applies to Paula, whose portrayal in the film implies that she had some sympathy for Sylvia. The RealLife Paula felt the same about torturing Sylvia as her mother did.
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** Sylvia and Jenny manage to reach their parents on the phone, and manage to hint that they're experiencing trouble, but are interrupted by Gertrude's kids discovering them. [[note]]In RealLife, Lester and Betty Likens actually visited their daughters several times during their time with Gertrude, but apparently found no evidence of the abuse, and their daughters were too frightened of Gertrude to speak out.[[/note]]
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* TheDogBiteBack: After the police are called, the first thing Jenny does is run to the cops and tell them "Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything". The next shot? ''She tells the court everything Gertrude did to her sister''.
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* TheDogBiteBack: TheDogBitesBack: After the police are called, the first thing Jenny does is run to the cops and tell them "Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything". The next shot? ''She tells the court everything Gertrude did to her sister''.
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* TheDogBiteBack: After the police are called, the first thing Jenny does is run to the cops and tell them "Get me out of here and I'll tell you everything". The next shot? ''She tells the court everything Gertrude did to her sister''.
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* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Gertrude and her family are found guilty for their involvement in Sylvia's death, but Sylvia of course is dead and it's implied that her sister and parents will forever endure the trauma of what happened to her for years to come. One bright spot is Sylvia's ghost finding comfort at her parents's carvinal, the only place she felt safe.]]
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** The real-life Gertrude and Paula also showed no remorse for their crimes, with Paula becoming a real-life case of KarmaHoudiniWarranty when she went on to live a normal life under a new name...until 2012, when she was fired from her job as a school counselor's aide when the school found out her true identity.
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* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: What Gertrude did to Sylvia in real life was even worse than what the movie shows. The same applies to Paula, whose portrayal in the film implies that she had some sympathy for Sylvia. The RealLife Paula felt the same about torturing Sylvia as her mother did.
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* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: What Gertrude did to Sylvia in real life was even worse than what the movie shows. The same applies to Paula, whose portrayal in the film implies that she had some sympathy for Sylvia. The RealLife Paula felt the same about torturing Sylvia as her mother did.
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Creator/EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia and her sister are left for an extended stay at the home of Gertrude and her six children. Times are tough and the increasingly unstable Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the neighborhood join in.
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Creator/EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia and her sister are left for an extended stay at the home of Gertrude and her six children.
Times are tough and the increasingly unstable Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the neighborhood join in.
Times are tough and the increasingly unstable Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the neighborhood join in.
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* HopeSpot: Sylvia's DyingDream of escaping and reuniting with her parents. You know it won't last, but still.
** There's also a point where, after spending all of her time torturing Sylvia, Gertrude gently washes her and is able to interact with her calmly, indicating that she's got a grip again. She loses it as soon as the local church's priest speaks to her about suspicions that Paula is pregnant, causing her to start lashing out at Sylvia again.
** There's also a point where, after spending all of her time torturing Sylvia, Gertrude gently washes her and is able to interact with her calmly, indicating that she's got a grip again. She loses it as soon as the local church's priest speaks to her about suspicions that Paula is pregnant, causing her to start lashing out at Sylvia again.
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* HopeSpot: HopeSpot:
** Sylvia's DyingDream of escaping and reuniting with her parents. You know it won't last, but still.
** There'salso a point where, after spending all of her time torturing Sylvia, Gertrude gently washes her and is able to interact with her calmly, indicating that she's got a grip again. She loses it as soon as the local church's priest speaks to her about suspicions that Paula is pregnant, causing her to start lashing out at Sylvia again.
** Sylvia's DyingDream of escaping and reuniting with her parents. You know it won't last, but still.
** There's
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* ColdBloodedTorture
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* ColdBloodedTortureColdBloodedTorture: Poor Sylvia is forced to endure this and eventually dies due to the horrific abuse she suffered.
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* [[spoiler: MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Maybe. By the end, when Gertrude is sentenced, her kids cry at the fact of their actions ''and'' the loss of their mother. When Gertrude is in prison and sees the spirit of Sylvia, she begins to tear up and tries to mouth the words "I'm sorry", before Sylvia fades away]].
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* [[spoiler: MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Maybe. By the end, when Gertrude is sentenced, her kids cry at the fact of their actions ''and'' the loss of their mother. When Gertrude is in prison and sees the spirit of Sylvia, she begins to tear up and tries to mouth the words "I'm sorry", before Sylvia fades away]].
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* DolledUpInstallment: ''The Afflicted'', a later true crime film with a similar premise, has the alternate title of ''"Another American Crime"''.
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* BasedOnATrueStory
* BlatantLies : Gertrude's story about Sylvia going to juvie.
* BlatantLies : Gertrude's story about Sylvia going to juvie.
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* BasedOnATrueStory
BasedOnATrueStory: Based on the murder of Sylvia Likens, a.k.a. "The Illinois Torture Murder." All dialogue from the courtroom scenes are drawn directly from the court transcripts.
*BlatantLies : BlatantLies: Gertrude's story about Sylvia going to juvie.
*
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* MayDecemberRomance : Gertrude and Andy. Keener was 48 at the time of filming, and Creator/JamesFranco was 29.
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* MayDecemberRomance : Gertrude and Andy. Keener was 48 at the time of filming, and Creator/JamesFranco was 29. A case of RealLifeWritesThePlot, as the real "Andy" was 18 to Gertrude's 34 when they began dating.
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* WouldHurtAChild
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* WouldHurtAChildWouldHurtAChild: Gertrude Baniszewski.
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* [[spoiler: MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Maybe. By the end, when Gertrude is sentenced, her kids cry at the fact of their actions ''and'' the loss of their mother. When Gertrude is in prison and sees the spirit of Sylvia, she begins to tear up and tries to mouth the words "I'm sorry", before Sylvia fades away]].
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* DestroyTheAbusiveHome: The ultimate fate of the Baniszewski home. While plans were made to restore the house as a shelter for abused girls, funding fell through, with many in the community blaming lack of donations on the location being too heavily overshadowed by the murder. Two years after the film's release and almost forty-five years after Sylvia's murder, the house was demolished.
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* MamaBear : Most of the abuse starts when Paula complains to Gertrude about Sylvia "spreading lies."
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* MamaBear : MamaBear: Most of the abuse starts when Paula complains to Gertrude about Sylvia "spreading lies."
* TheSixties: A rather darker side thereof--less free love and more secrecy and lack of child protective services.
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Very nearly literally. Many laws regarding mandatory reporting of suspected abuse came into being directly because of this case.
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* TheSixties: A rather darker side thereof--less free love and more secrecy and lack of child protective services.
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* PosthumousNarration : Sylvia is telling her own story.
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* BlatantLies : Gertrude's story about Sylvia going to juvie.
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* MamaBear : Most of the abuse starts when Paula complains to Gertrude about Sylvia "spreading lies."
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* DisproportionateRetribution: Much of what happens to Sylvia falls under this.
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* DisproportionateRetribution: Much of what happens to Sylvia falls under this. The first beating happened because the girls' parents' payment was late, and because Gertrude believed Sylvia was telling lies about Paula.
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* MayDecemberRomance : Gertrude and Andy. Keener was 48 at the time of filming, and Creator/JamesFranco was 29.
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* AffectionateNickname: Sylvia's father calls her "Cookie."
* CreepyCircusMusic: The end credits, where [[CreepyChildrenSinging a children's choir]] imitates the piping of a circus calliope.
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* TeenPregnancy: Gertrude tells Sylvia that she had her oldest daughter Paula at young age. Paula herself gets pregnant by her cheating boyfriend (though somehow doesn't show after months have passed). Gertrude is unable to deal with the thought that Paula made the same mistake she did, leading her to blame poor Sylvia and ultimately torture her to death.
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* TakeMeInstead: When Gertie is about to beat both Likens girls, Sylvia offers to take both beatings to spare her disabled sister.
* TeenPregnancy: Gertrudetells Sylvia that she had her oldest daughter Paula at a young age. age, and Paula herself gets pregnant by her cheating boyfriend (though somehow doesn't show after months have passed). boyfriend. Gertrude is unable to deal with the thought that Paula made the same mistake she did, leading her to blame poor Sylvia and ultimately torture her to death.death.
* TheSixties: A rather darker side thereof--less free love and more secrecy and lack of child protective services.
* TeenPregnancy: Gertrude
* TheSixties: A rather darker side thereof--less free love and more secrecy and lack of child protective services.
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* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: In the final scenes, Sylvia relates the fates of many of her tormentors.
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** There's also a point where, after spending all of her time torturing Sylvia, Gertrude gently washes her and is able to interact with her calmly, indicating that she's got a grip again. She loses it as soon as the local church's priest speaks to her about suspicions that Paula is pregnant, causing her to start lashing out at Sylvia again.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/american_crime_7157.jpg]]EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia and her sister are left for an extended stay at the home of Gertrude and her six children. Times are tough and the increasingly unstable Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the neighborhood join in.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/american_crime_7157.jpg]]EllenPage jpg]]
Creator/EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia and her sister are left for an extended stay at the home of Gertrude and her six children. Times are tough and the increasingly unstable Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the neighborhood join in.
Creator/EllenPage and Catherine Keener star in this dramatization of the real-life story of Sylvia Likens and Gertrude Baniszewski. Sylvia and her sister are left for an extended stay at the home of Gertrude and her six children. Times are tough and the increasingly unstable Baniszewski snaps and begins taking out her anger on Sylvia, repeatedly abusing and eventually torturing her. Things get worse when her kids and others from the neighborhood join in.
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Moved Trivia stuff.
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* AllStarCast: In addition to Page and Keener, James Franco stars in the film.
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* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: What Gertrude did to Sylvia in real life was even worse than what the movie shows.
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* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: What Gertrude did to Sylvia in real life was even worse than what the movie shows. The same applies to Paula, whose portrayal in the film implies that she had some sympathy for Sylvia. The RealLife Paula felt the same about torturing Sylvia as her mother did.
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* TorturePorn
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* YankTheDogsChain: There comes a point where we're lead to believe that Sylvia will escape and be reunited with her family. The audience knows this won't last.
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* YankTheDogsChain: There comes a point where we're lead to believe that Sylvia will escape and be reunited with her family. The audience knows this won't last.last.
----
----
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* HopeSpot: Sylvia's DyingDream of escaping and reuniting with her parents. You know it won't last, but still.
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* TorturePorn
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Moved Trivia.
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* DyeingForYourArt: Ellen Page effectively starved herself for the role of Sylvia.
