[The film] is a stylistically lopsided but concise piece of cinema that marks a more-than-welcome return to the witty camp of [Smoczyńska’s] debut feature As a cinematically fresh plastic flower bouquet [it] has something to say to every type of audience

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 21, 2025

As a larger statement about the ways in which outsiders and marginalised people are crushed by our world, it hits the nail right on the head.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 18, 2024

Given the mental health issues raised, “Silent Twins” can at times be an uncomfortable, grueling movie to watch. Unlike in Jeff Malmberg’s documentary “Marwencol” (2010) or the British series “Chewing Gum” (2015-2017), the audience gets no palate-cleansin

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 9, 2024

Heart-breaking on the surface but utterly boring where it counts.

| Nov 2, 2023

Lawrance and Wright deserve credit for depicting the idiosyncratic personalities of Jennifer and June — loving and fighting as artistic collaborators and jealous rivals — but The Silent Twins plugs away without the urgency or rising stakes.

| Jul 28, 2023

It's as though the filmmakers pared a five hour film down to two with so many emotional beats ringing hollow due to a consistent lack of context. We're witnessing "effect" under the presumption that we already know "cause".

| Original Score: 5/10 | Jan 20, 2023

This is a wild & bizarre story, proving once again that truth is stranger than fiction, & how the varying natures of human behavior can come up with some odd quirks. As the old saying says, "it’s better to be silent than to speak and be thought the fool."

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 27, 2022

The Silent Twins is a surrealistic biopic that lives, breathes (and sometimes chokes) on director Smoczynska's audacious flourishes including a splashy Busby Berkeley-style fantasia replete with synchronised swimmers.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 17, 2022

The lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons do make for a compelling watch and teamed with such solid performances mean The Silent Twins is an impressive cinematic accomplishment.

| Dec 17, 2022

Some wonderful visual flourishes and two brilliant central performances by Wright and Lawrence help to illuminate the Gibbons sisters’ headspaces. But without important context, true insight and understanding remains elusive.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 14, 2022

There are such gorgeous shots in this, both in the starkness of the hospital where the second half of the movie is set, but also in the dream scenes where it's all about vibrancy and contrasting colours.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 14, 2022

Strikingly shot and edited, this is beautifully played by four gifted actresses. It's also remarkably engaging for such a deeply disturbing tale.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 13, 2022

It’s hard not to be moved by how smoothly Smoczyńska drifts away from the biopic elements of Andrea Seigel’s screenplay to instead inhabit the rich, internal world the Gibbons occupied.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 13, 2022

The film makes it too fantastical to believe in, which is a shame, as it’s all based on fact.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 12, 2022

Perhaps it’s entirely appropriate that a film about an impenetrable pair should itself prove somewhat impenetrable.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 12, 2022

Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska attempts, and sometimes succeeds, in translating June and Jennifer’s story onto the big screen, but it’s a story that requires more time and nuance that is possible to give with a feature film.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 12, 2022

Though skilfully made and formally structured, the film occasionally takes on the quality of “outsider art” – to use the fashionable phrase for works such as June’s book.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 10, 2022

What this singular film captures so well is that the sisters, far from being silent, had plenty to say.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 9, 2022

Some suitably perturbing stop-frame animation sequences set the tone but it’s mostly the deeply sympathetic turns from Wright and Lawrance that convey the true tragedy of lives that were lived in retreat.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 9, 2022

The main issue I have with it is that it was hard to fully engage with these insular characters. Nevertheless, this story will leave you speechless.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 9, 2022