News

Miramax Films

Already familiar to more than 3.5 million Dutch and German readers, "De Tweeling" (Twin Sisters), Tessa de Loo's acclaimed novel about the very different roads taken by twins separated at an early age, has been made into a handsomely appointed, solidly acted feature by director Ben Sombogaart.

One of the best foreign language Oscar hopefuls unspooled at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the drama possesses the epic sweep and historical perspective that appeals to older viewers, as domestic distributor Miramax is no doubt aware.

Working from a cleanly constructed adaptation by Marieke van der Pol, family film director Sombogaart first sets the clock back to 1925, when 6-year-old twins Anna and Lotte are separated by relatives following the death of their parents.

While Anna remains in Germany, where she's immediately put to work on the farm belonging to her abusive uncle and his wife; sickly sister Lotte is shipped off to the Netherlands home of distant relations where she's nursed back to health and given a good education.

The vastly different upbringings take the girls in very different sociological and political directions. College-educated Lotte marries the Jewish son of family friends, Anna finds employment as a maid and becomes the war bride of an Austrian officer who has joined the Secret Service.

A chance meeting at a spa half-century later, proves that time, alone, isn't necessarily an effective healer and the constant shifting back and forth between past events and the sisters' uncomfortable reunion would seem to undercut some potential emotional impact.

But the performances -- with Thekla Reuten and Ellen Vogel in the roles of Lotte young and old, while Nadja Uhl and Gudrun Okras play the young and old Anna parts -- are uniformly excellent.

And while the miniseries-ready concept may not be the most innovative in the world, "Twin Sisters" has many a reflective thought to provoke about the role of social conditioning in shaping individual destinies.

Miramax Films

Already familiar to more than 3.5 million Dutch and German readers, "De Tweeling" (Twin Sisters), Tessa de Loo's acclaimed novel about the very different roads taken by twins separated at an early age, has been made into a handsomely appointed, solidly acted feature by director Ben Sombogaart.

One of the best foreign language Oscar hopefuls unspooled at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the drama possesses the epic sweep and historical perspective that appeals to older viewers, as domestic distributor Miramax is no doubt aware.

Working from a cleanly constructed adaptation by Marieke van der Pol, family film director Sombogaart first sets the clock back to 1925, when 6-year-old twins Anna and Lotte are separated by relatives following the death of their parents.

While Anna remains in Germany, where she's immediately put to work on the farm belonging to her abusive uncle and his wife; sickly sister Lotte is shipped off to the Netherlands home of distant relations where she's nursed back to health and given a good education.

The vastly different upbringings take the girls in very different sociological and political directions. College-educated Lotte marries the Jewish son of family friends, Anna finds employment as a maid and becomes the war bride of an Austrian officer who has joined the Secret Service.

A chance meeting at a spa half-century later, proves that time, alone, isn't necessarily an effective healer and the constant shifting back and forth between past events and the sisters' uncomfortable reunion would seem to undercut some potential emotional impact.

But the performances -- with Thekla Reuten and Ellen Vogel in the roles of Lotte young and old, while Nadja Uhl and Gudrun Okras play the young and old Anna parts -- are uniformly excellent.

And while the miniseries-ready concept may not be the most innovative in the world, "Twin Sisters" has many a reflective thought to provoke about the role of social conditioning in shaping individual destinies.

CANNES -- Miramax Films executive vp acquisitions and co-productions Agnes Mentre said Monday that the mini-major had sealed a deal to acquire North American rights to Dutch Helmer Ben Sombogaart's epic feature "Twin Sisters" (De Tweeling). The film is based on the novel "Twins" by Tessa De Loo and tells the story of German twin sisters who are separated with one being raised in Holland and the other remaining in rural Germany. The sisters' lives take very different turns until they meet again 40 years after World War II. "Twins" was a bestseller in Holland and Germany with more than 3.5 million readers. De Loo's book was originally published in the Netherlands in 1993 and is the author's first to have been translated into English. "Twin Sisters" was written for the big screen by Marieke van der Pol and stars Thekla Reuten, Nadja Uhl, Ellen Vogel, Gudrun Okras, Jeroen Spitzenberger, and Roman Knizka. Anton Smit and Hanneke Niens produced.