The Telenovela of Deception: Inside Netflix’s ‘A Child of My Own’

Netflix is set to release A Child of My Own on 13 August, a documentary by Chilean director Maite Alberdi that investigates the 2009 case of Eleonor Alejandra Marín Mendoza. Mendoza, a Mexican hospital worker, faked a pregnancy and kidnapped a newborn baby from the birth mother, Mayra. The film juxtaposes Mendoza’s telenovela-style narrative with court evidence proving she deceived Mayra and stole the infant, using the case to examine the intense social pressure on women in Latin America to become mothers.

Alberdi, previously nominated for an Oscar for her 2020 film The Mole Agent, conducted interviews with Mendoza in a low-security Mexican prison, where Mendoza is serving a 13-year sentence. Mendoza, who was 17 when she married her husband Arturo, concealed her third miscarriage and faked the remainder of her pregnancy. While Mendoza claimed to have struck a deal with Mayra to hand over her newborn, court evidence showed they had never met before the birth, and Mendoza snatched the baby from Mayra’s hospital cot.

The documentary features dramatic reconstructions styled as a Mexican telenovela, which Alberdi estimates are approximately 80% accurate to Mendoza’s version of events. Alberdi chose this aesthetic because Mendoza’s account was melodramatic and over the top, resembling a soap opera rather than a Greek tragedy. The director notes that Mendoza seemed to believe her own deception, engaging in behaviours such as binge eating to gain weight and faking an ultrasound scan, effectively living a psychological pregnancy.

Alberdi’s investigation took a sharp turn when she reviewed the court bundle, realising Mendoza’s story did not fit the facts. Mendoza’s witness statements contradicted her earlier accounts, with Mayra testifying that she met Mendoza for the first time after giving birth, when Mendoza posed as a social worker. Despite her initial disappointment and desire to abandon the project, Alberdi persisted, driven by a desire to understand the social context that drove Mendoza to the edge rather than to justify the crime.

The film includes interviews with Mendoza’s husband, Arturo, who was acquitted after two years in prison, as well as the trial judge, a psychologist, and the birth mother, Mayra. Alberdi deliberately excluded an interview with Mayra’s child, now a teenager, to avoid victimising her or creating issues during her adolescence. At recent screenings, audience reactions highlighted that the pressure to marry and have children remains significant in Mexico and Latin America, with many women sharing their own struggles with fertility and societal judgment.