I never heard of real life twin sisters June and Jennifer Gibbons prior to their lives being turned into a movie. When I did a little amount of research into them and who they were my interest was certainly peaked and there was some faith when the casting was announced. However, somewhere along the way Agnieszka Smoczynska’s direction and Andrea Seigel’s screenplay took something rather intriguing and made it so dull and lifeless that wasn’t amplified by the equally dull and lifeless performances. Thusly making The Silent Twins so silent that by the time the credits hit the few sole survivors of their nap will shuffle their feet to the exit.
The Silent Twins, consisting of June and Jennifer Gibbons played by Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance respectfully, and they had a hard time growing up because they are black growing up in Wales in the 1980s. Racism was at an all time high during that time period, and the twins decided to resort to communicating strictly amongst themselves and ostracising themselves from the rest of society. Their parents and everyone else thought this was unusual and brought them to an infamous psychiatric facility where they’d have to choose to separate and survive or stay together and die.
Part of the larger issue here is that Seigel’s screenplay based upon the novel by Marjorie Wallace lacks some of the more interesting things that the Gibbons twins went through leaving what is left to be underdeveloped and malnourished almost. The story lacks depth and intrigue, and thus it suffers from captivating its audience. However it is the very meandering performances from both Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance that really is the final nail in the coffin for The Silent Twins. Considering both actors have proven themselves to have the chops to bring life to characters and create characters audiences can resonate with, their inability to bring forth any form of emotion or care for the Gibbons twins is truly upsetting.
With lackluster performances and a weak script/adaptation The Silent Twins never manages to stir anything in its audience to create a world that anyone can lost into. Movies are meant to either be an escape for its audience or to be transported with the characters they are watching. The Silent Twins unfortunately matter to accomplish neither, and just provide the audience an uncomfortable theatrical snore for two hours. The silence that will stem from the auditoriums will be deafening.
