Based on the fascinating true case of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twins born in the 1960s who began communicating only with each other, The Silent Twins is telling an almost impossible story. Directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska, a Polish director making her English-language debut, the film stars Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance as the titular pair.
From the opening moments, as the characters narrate their own actor title cards and a stop-motion animation plays out, the tone is set very early on: this isn't a straightforward drama. Instead offering a more idiosyncratic, artistically-slanted exploration of communication, creativity and affliction, Agnieszka Smoczynska brings her uniquely wound directorial style to proceedings. Complete with inventive camera movements, an eerie atmosphere and interesting cinematography that enriches the exciting visual language, it is an impressively stylised and atmospheric picture from a director clearly in control of their craft.
Andrea Seigel takes on the impossibly difficult task of translating this hugely intriguing story for the screen. With such insular characters on her hands, there is almost no way to emotionally engage audiences because we never really come to truly understand them, so much of their behaviour still remains a mystery. It skilfully manages to give the characters a voice but it cannot separate them or welcome us into their space, which makes the picture feel lethargic and uneven, hindered further by its 113 minute runtime. What the film does sell so well is its closing fifteen minutes: a beautifully devastating final note that impresses but also leaves you frustrated that the rest of the film could not be so strong or satisfying.
It is a pair of strongly-matched performances from Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance who are inextricably linked but manage to personalise their performances with small individual flourishes. Relying on the smallest of mannerisms - glances and stances that reveal more about their relationship than words could - Wright and Lawrance thrive in spite of the obstacles they face. Finding depth to such perplexing people is a feat in itself and they manage to infuse the picture with some of the empathy it so desperately required.
A well-acted and creatively-directed picture whose unwavering ambition ultimately overwhelms it completely, The Silent Twins is may be one of the more interesting biographical film of recent years but its narrative flaws prevent it from excelling. It's hard not to admire a director seeking to bring such an edge to a somewhat stale genre, and the challenge of the story at hand cannot be underestimated - but the execution of this screenplay should have been stronger.