DIRECTOR: Agnieszka Smoczyńska
CAST: Letitia Wright, Tamara Lawrence, Nadine Marshall, Treva Etienne, Michael Smiley, Jodhi May, Jack Bandeira, Kinga Preis, Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, Tony Richardson, Declan Joyce, Leah Mondesir-Simmonds, Eva-Arianna Baxter
RUNNING TIME: 113 mins
CERTIFICATE: 18
BASICALLY…: A pair of twins (Wright and Lawrence) only communicate with each other…
NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
It might not be the first time that the unusual story of June and Jennifer Gibbons – the creative twin sisters who only ever communicated with each other – has been told through the visual medium (it’s been the subject of television dramas, documentaries, and even a stage play), but director Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s The Silent Twins is by far the most “visual” rendition of their story yet told. The Polish filmmaker, who here makes her English-language debut, brings a strong style that incorporates bright colours, musical sequences, and even stop-motion animation into her and writer Andrea Seigel’s dramatization, which is dazzling and interesting enough to forgive the film for some of its more undercooked components.
The story follows twins June and Jennifer (played as children by Leah Mondesir-Simmonds and Eva-Arianna Baxter respectively), who are introduced as being highly imaginative and coming up with fun, playful stories together – but as soon as anyone else comes within their vicinity, whether it’s their parents or schoolteachers in their Welsh hometown, they immediately shut down and refuse to communicate. Their unusual bond frustrates and puzzles those around them to no end, and when they become young adults (now played by Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrence) their anti-social behaviour soon lands them in significant trouble, to where they are incarcerated in the infamous Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. Despite everything, though, they continue attempting to become known for their creative writing, finding mixed results along the way, as well as the very real possibility of being separated forever.
Rather than examine the psychology behind her central figures – crucially, a mental diagnosis is given to neither of them in this movie – Smoczyńska and Seigel choose to celebrate them as creative storytellers, albeit ones with limited capacities through which to tell their stories. Their idiosyncratic film blends together a surreal mix of artistry to convey the popping energy that these twins share with each other, from the aforementioned stop-motion animation with which certain stories of theirs are brought to life, to fantasy segments that resemble old-fashioned movie musicals, all of which greatly contrast with the far drearier Welsh landscape in which they actually live. It’s an interesting way of going about telling this particular story, because you are made to feel like there’s so much to these central characters whenever they’re alone together, which makes it all the more alarming and even disturbing when they actively decide to share none of that with the outside world, except through the odd written communication. The performances by Wright and Lawrence are also a key factor in making you really empathise with the twins’ creative struggles, because while their communicative skills may be limited, you still understand enough about who each of them is individually because the actors do a very good job of emulating one another while still making their respective roles stand out.
However, while The Silent Twins is visually ambitious and harbours a good deal of respect towards its central figures as creatives rather than mentally ill outsiders, there are parts that still manage to feel underdeveloped and thus make it difficult to fully understand them. For instance, their criminal activity which ultimately lands them in Broadmoor is more or less glanced over, and it even feels random as there’s been little that we’ve seen up to that point to indicate their sudden rebellious streak, at least to a point where they end up doing some serious damage. A brief foray into drug-taking (mostly via inhaling paint-thinner, which is what gained it an otherwise unnecessary 18 certificate), and a thinly-defined relationship with an American teen they both fall for, end up adding little to their overall dynamic, and feel like minor footnotes next to the more troubling stuff that should perhaps have been given a greater focus. The script is a little all over the place in that regard, and while it does settle down (kind of) once we get to Broadmoor, it’s enough to where you can spot many of the areas that should have been expanded upon more in order to give their story – and its rather tragic outcome – the real dramatic weight that it needed.
As an unconventional celebration of blossoming creativity, it’s an intriguing biopic to seek out – but in most other areas, it certainly could have been much more profound in what it wanted to say. Regardless, it’s a fascinating story told in a rather attention-grabbing manner that, despite its partially underdeveloped nature, makes for an interesting introduction to a pair of real-life creatives that had the most unusual communication methods.
SO, TO SUM UP…
The Silent Twins is a visually ambitious but slightly underdeveloped biopic of twin sisters June and Jennifer Gibbons, which celebrates their creative streak rather than examining their psychological complications, but a lack of full commitment to certain parts of their story leaves more than necessary to be desired.
