Silent Twins

Agnieszka Smoczyńska tells the story of silent twins in an unusually empathetic way. The movie, based on a report by Marjorie Wallace, is a true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, black twins from Wales, who have only talked to each other since childhood. The sisters, who refuse to communicate verbally with their family members, teachers and peers, form a symbiotic duo, though not without rivalry. Their life goes on behind the closed doors of the girls’ room: in their imagination, in common (as they get older - less and less innocent) games and on the pages of the books they write. The girls’ inner world is shown with visual fantasy. Images and music take the place of unspoken words. In your imagination you can be a bird, the queen of the street, Michael Jackson or Princess Diana. Or all of them at the same time. Touching to the quick, some have called this the most beautiful movie of this year’s Cannes festival, it can be read as a story of teenage rebellion, of eccentric fun that has spun out of control. It could illustrate a dysfunctional relationship or a mental crisis brought on by long-term oppression. Or perhaps it is a study of toxic love, so strong that the outside world ceases to matter and a normal life is impossible?