''Twin Sisters'' ( nl, De Tweeling) is a 2002 Dutch

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, directed by Ben Sombogaart, based on the novel '' The Twins'' by Tessa de Loo, with a screenplay by Dutch actress and writer Marieke van der Pol.

Plot

The film tells the story of twin German sisters Lotte (

Thekla Reuten Thekla Simona Gelsomina Reuten (born 16 September 1975) is a Dutch actress. Life and career Reuten was born in Bussum, Netherlands, the daughter of a Dutch father, Joost Reuten, and an Italian mother, who was born in Benabbio near Bagni di Lucc ...

) and Anna (

Nadja Uhl Nadja Uhl (; born 23 May 1972, in Stralsund) is a German actress. Uhl grew up near Stralsund, in the town of Franzburg. She lived with her mother in a three-generation house, shared with aunts and her grandparents, who had moved in shortly ...

), who are separated when they are six. After the deaths of their parents, they are "divided" between quarreling distant relatives, one being raised in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and the other in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Lotte grows up in a loving middle-class intellectual family in Amsterdam, and Anna is raised in virtual servitude by a poor Catholic peasant family in a backward area. The two girls seek to keep in contact, but Anna's family lacks Lotte's address, and Lotte's new family fails to mail her letters for fear that the brutal farmers will claim her, as well. The cataclysmic events of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

sweep them even further apart. Lotte falls in love with a young Jewish man whom the Nazis eventually caught and sent to an

extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

where they killed him. Anna falls in love and marries a young ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

'' soldier who joins the ''

Waffen SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from th ...

'' and is killed in the last days of the war. Although the girls find each other just before the outbreak of the war, Anna's attempt to reunite with Lotte in its aftermath is thwarted by Lotte's bitter discovery that Anna's husband had been part of Nazism which killed her fiancé in

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. Only in her old age, when they meet again at a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

, does Lotte reconcile herself to their divergent lives and reclaim the tender sibling feeling of her childhood. The two girls/women are each played by three different actors from the Netherlands and Germany.

Cast

Ellen Vogel Ellen Marie Elze Anthing Vogel (; 26 January 1922 – 5 August 2015) was a Dutch film, stage and television actress. Personal Born on 26 January 1922 in The Hague, Netherlands as the second child of publicist Louis Albert Anthing Vogel (1 ...

- old Lotte * Gudrun Okras - old Anna *

- young Lotte *

- young Anna * Julia Koopmans - little Lotte * Sina Richardt - little Anna * Betty Schuurman - the twins' mother * - the twins' father

Reception

''Twin Sisters'' has an approval rating of 69% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 13 reviews, and an average rating of 6.92/10. In

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, some critics objected to the film as "creating a moral equation between the killers and their victims". Still, it was shown successfully for several months in cinemas all over Israel. As the ''Jewish Chronicle'' was later to remark,

A thought-provoking film, raises big questions about responsibility for the Holocaust and what ordinary individuals do when faced with extraordinary evil.

Miramax Films Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey Weinstein, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was ...

had also acquired the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

distribution rights to ''Twin Sisters'' and the film was given a limited US theatrical release in 2005. The film was a 76th Academy Awards nominee for

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

of 2003. It also won the

Golden Calf According to the Bible, the golden calf (עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב '' ‘ēgel hazzāhāv'') was an idol (a cult image) made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as ''ḥēṭə’ hā‘ēgel'' ...

for

Best Feature Film Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

Box office

The film received commercial release on May 6, 2005, and grossed $1,207 in the opening weekend in one theater (US). It went on to gross $1,563 in the US and $5,143,800 in other markets for a worldwide total of $5,145,363.

References

External links

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Movie stills
{{Golden Calf for Best Feature Film 2002 films 2002 drama films Dutch drama films 2000s Dutch-language films Films about twin sisters Films based on Dutch novels Films set in the Netherlands Films shot in the Netherlands Holocaust films Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s Films set in Germany Films shot in Amsterdam Films shot in Belgium Films shot in Luxembourg Films directed by Ben Sombogaart Twins in fiction