Twin Sisters

The worldwide best-selling novel by Tessa de Loo, Twin Sisters (De Tweeling), has been read by over 3 million people in Germany and the Netherlands. Directed by Ben Sombogaart and starring Ellen Vogel and Nadja Uhl, Twin Sisters was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

It’s a tale that spans several decades showing what happened to twin sisters separated at the age of 6 through the death of their mother. Lotte who has consumption is taken to have a comfortable life with well-to-do relatives in Holland, Anna the stronger one, suffers at the hands of relatives who are poor farmers in Germany. Set in the late 20’s, the film then shows how the experience of the war dictated that they would have a different outlook on life merely through conditioning.

Lotte grews up with many Jewish friends and falls in love with a young man who is Jewish, Anna escaping from the violence of living with slavish farmers, becomes a maid for a rich Countess and mixes with many Nazi Senior officers. From the word go, she sees her future being promoted through a leader (Hitler) fighting for the rights of Germans.

The film has a strong emotional core which grabs you from the moment the two girls are separated at their mother's funeral and then a wonderful piece of storytelling takes over, where all the scenes seem to fit seamlessly as we watch two lives develop in parallel, and also involving past and present scenes as well.

The closest film it resembles is Toto le Heros (1991) where two babies get swapped at birth, and they get to lead each other's life - the one from the poorer family getting to live in the well-to-do household and the baby from the well-to-do household living in the poorer family and having a much tougher upbringing and life. You can see how they're similar, but of course from there, there are leading differences, since this is twins in the same family and involving the divide of feelings over anti-semitism brought about by the varying experiences of the war.

Its well-acted, particularly by the two girls, Nadja Uhl and Thekla Reuten, but also by the older actresses as well. Overall the film works really well right up to its emotionally giving denouement when you feel for Anna and the lives these sisters have led. There are some good lines in the film, arguably the best of which is a moment when Anna points out to Lotte that 'if she had not been so ill as a child, and she had led her (Anna’s) life, would Lotte have not made the same choices ?' This film is well worth seeking out if you get the chance.

Matt Arnoldi