The Silent Twins  ★★★

POLISH director Agnieszka Smoczyńska has taken on a fascinating subject with her first English language film.

The Silent Twins tells the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons whom we first meet as teenagers in their native Wales.

The girls have been extremely close since birth which is probably no different to many other twin siblings.

But this closeness has only intensified during their school years when they have been subject to bullying by some fellow students and outright rejection by all others.

The girls have now retreated socially and physically to the point where they only communicate via speech with each other. Not even their parents or older sister are part of this closed circle.

While their parents have slipped into a stance of helpless acceptance, teachers continue to be concerned and ensure the girls are treated by medical and psychological professionals.

But nobody seems able to get through to them. Meanwhile the girls are silently embracing their growing personas and wanting to explore both artistic endeavours and their sexuality and other freedoms.

When the girls become involved in anti-social behaviour the stakes in their treatment and future are greatly heightened.

Adapted from a book of the same name by Marjorie Wallace, the film takes a fairly conventional narrative approach while adding a series of artistic flourishes, such as use of animation for some bridging sequences, which have mixed results in adding to the rising tension in the story.

The four actresses who play the girls at two different life stages are all effective in the roles, as are Nadine Marshall and Treva Etienne as their loving parents increasingly frustrated by the growing distance being forced upon the family relationships.

It’s a fascinating story told well.