Cannes Review: Letitia Wright in “The Silent Twins”

Polish director Agnieszka Smochinska (bait, escape) Debuts in English. silent twins, The strange and surprising story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, the twin sisters who only came into contact after adolescence when drugs and alcohol led to petty robberies and arson, which led them to the Broadmore Medical Ward, which is well protected. 11 years before its launch in the 1980s. Creating their own dolls and puppets, poems and music, broadcast to each other only on a fake radio show, the “twins”, as their family called them, fell into one strange void that grew even more pronounced, even if forced. Go to separate schools at some point. And they continued to do so until they became young women and faced legislative problems, until they were jailed for more than a decade, five or six times longer than the longest sentence for minor offenses they were charged with.

Leticia Wright in knockout performances (Javier Pantera) And Tamara Lawrence, respectively, will play Senior June and Jennifer Gibbons, born in 1963 into the only black family in the Welsh suburb, who grew up under bullying to the point that school authorities have been forced to separate them from their classmates. Racist and almost entirely white zone. Their bizarre and silly behavior, in which they even once walked at their own pace, was of no use to them, and finally at the age of 8 they got back together with their own reality, where they refused to speak, confess or interact with the family or relationships. . . Creating them instead of the outside world. Really me The world in his room, blocked by everyone outside.

There they created their own characters and dolls (through the animated sections visually presented in the film); Broadcast your radio show, create plays, poems and songs; And they spoke in a strange and subtle language, only they could speak, mostly speaking. This continued for many years, despite efforts by child psychologists, school officials and their families to get them out. Eventually, at the age of 16, they dropped out of school, fell in love with various American boys, and embarked on what might be called sex, drugs, and old-fashioned rock and roll before robbing shops and even burning down a building. Of firearms and miscellaneous theft items.

Established at the age of 19 in Broadmoor, a maximum-security psychiatric hospital where the youngest patients were admitted, they returned to their world of silence again and sometimes even committed violence to one another. For 11 years they were separated, but they stayed until journalist Marjorie Wallace (played by Jodi May) discovered their story and found a way to earn their trust by conducting several interviews with them on Broadmoor, which over time it has become a well known work. For Times London and then the basis of his book, Silent twins.

Based on Andrea Seigel’s gripping and gripping script, Smochinska finds the right tone and artistic path, from an intriguing and playful sequence of opening credits to the visual transformation of June and Jennifer’s chapters in its reality and creation. We understand, or at least try it To understand this incredible story. It’s really the story of two artists who express themselves creatively but don’t take themselves seriously for who they were, which many artists can verify. I never knew, even though it was a 1986 BBC drama, a 1994 BBC documentary and even a 2011 play. Mute They are based on their own story, with the exception of Wallace’s 1986 book, but this film features a highly stylized approach to becoming much more than just a Gibbon twin story. It might be more like a movie Diving bell and butterfly In more ordinary works based on true stories. Working in English for the first time, the Polish director manages to capture the heart of cinematographer Jakub Kizowski, producer Jagna Dobeski, sensational soundtrack by Marcin Macuk and Zuzanna Wronska, and jaw-dropping animation.

In addition to Wright and Lawrence, both unforgettable, young June play Leah Mondesir-Simmonds and young Jennifer Eva-Ariana Baxter, and they are also very effective, which adds so much to this extraordinary story and this excellent film.

Focus Features has yet to set an internal release date. The world premiere of the film took place on Tuesday evening in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.