A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries is a 1998 drama film directed by James Ivory from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

The plot follows an expatriate American family living in Paris during the 1960s and 1970s until their return and adjustment to life in New England, seen from the daughter's point of view.

Bill Willis, a successful American novelist and World War II veteran, is living in Paris in the 1960s with his family.

The child's biological mother, a beautiful young unmarried girl, has been unable to care for him, and he has been shipped through so many orphanages and foster homes that at first he hesitates to unpack his suitcase.

Their future is threatened by Bill's declining health, Marcella's alcoholism, and the struggles of Channe and Billy to adapt to American high school.

There were difficulties with the location in Paris, "solved to some degree -- especially during nighttime party scenes often filmed during the day -- by simply avoiding the windows, a strategy which lends a close intimate feel that happens to be entirely appropriate to the story".

[1] The film garnered a favorable critical reaction, holding a fresh rating of 77% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 26 reviews.

It re-creates a childhood of wonderfully strange friends, eccentric visitors, a Paris that was more home for the children than for the parents and a homecoming that was fraught for them all".

[7] In the words of Jonathan Rosenbaum, writing for the Chicago Reader: "The three parts add up to a rather lumpy narrative, and the characters are perceived through a kind of affectionate recollection that tends to idealize them, but they're so beautifully realized that they linger like cherished friends".