At the recent British Independent Film awards (Bifa), the prize for best joint lead performance went to Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance for their starring roles in this stylistically adventurous account of real-life twins June and Jennifer Gibbons. Other nominations in that same category included Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio for Aftersun, which proved to be this year’s big Bifa winner; Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson for the bittersweet sex comedy Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; and Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear for the fable-like Men. All these nominations were for films in which a central pair brilliantly carry the drama, sometimes in multiple roles. Yet in the Poland/UK/US co-production The Silent Twins, Wright and Lawrance manage to convince us that they are two sides of a divided soul, with their performances perfectly balanced between osmosis and individuality.
Born on 11 April 1963, the Gibbons twins, Barbadian British children growing up in Wales, were inseparable, increasingly speaking only to each other in rushed, secretive tones that were all but indecipherable to others. Facing bullying and ostracisation at school (the education system clearly failed them, as would the health and legal services), they apparently retreated into their own private world before being dragged into the public spotlight in the 1980s after being arrested for acts of vandalism, theft and arson. Their story soon became the stuff of modern legend, inspiring dramas, documentaries and stage productions alike.
