Film Review: The Silent Twins succeeds a little too well in recreating a self-contained world

It’s an imaginative and occasionally disturbing account of a passive refusal to play the game of life according to the established rules of engagement

The Silent Twins is based on a true story.

★★★☆☆

Based on a true story, The Silent Twins (16s) opens in 1960s Wales, with young June and Jennifer Gibbons refusing to speak or engage with the wider world. Moved to special education from the school where they are bullied, and despite the best efforts of the educational psychologist, Tim Thomas (Michael Smiley), June (Letitia Wright) and Jennifer (Tamara Lawrence) grow ever more insular, a symbiotic unit spending their lives in their bedroom writing exotic stories and communicating in their own distinct patois.