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Three Identical Strangers

  • 20182018
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 36m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
35K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
David Kellman, Robert Shafran, and Eddy Galland in Three Identical Strangers (2018)
Watch {VideoTitle}
Play trailer2:09
2 Videos
20 Photos
  • Documentary
  • Biography
  • Drama
In 1980 New York, three young men who were all adopted meet each other and find out they're triplets who were separated at birth. But their quest to find out why turns into a bizarre and sin... Read allIn 1980 New York, three young men who were all adopted meet each other and find out they're triplets who were separated at birth. But their quest to find out why turns into a bizarre and sinister mystery.In 1980 New York, three young men who were all adopted meet each other and find out they're triplets who were separated at birth. But their quest to find out why turns into a bizarre and sinister mystery.
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
35K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Tim Wardle
  • Writer
    • Grace Hughes-Hallett
  • Stars
    • Robert Shafran
    • Michael Domnitz
    • Howard Schneider
Top credits
  • Director
    • Tim Wardle
  • Writer
    • Grace Hughes-Hallett
  • Stars
    • Robert Shafran
    • Michael Domnitz
    • Howard Schneider
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 160User reviews
    • 108Critic reviews
    • 81Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys
      • 11 wins & 59 nominations total

    Videos2

    Three Identical Strangers [Official Trailer]
    Trailer 2:09
    Three Identical Strangers [Official Trailer]
    IMDbrief: Box-Office Slump Reversed?
    Video 3:16
    IMDbrief: Box-Office Slump Reversed?

    Photos20

    David Kellman and Robert Shafran at an event for Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)
    Three Identical Strangers (2018)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Robert Shafran
    Robert Shafran
    • Selfas Self
    Michael Domnitz
    Michael Domnitz
    • Self - Eddie's Friendas Self - Eddie's Friend
    Howard Schneider
    Howard Schneider
    • Self - Newsday 1969-2004as Self - Newsday 1969-2004
    Ellen Cervone
    Ellen Cervone
    • Self - Friendas Self - Friend
    Alan Luchs
    Alan Luchs
    • Self - Friendas Self - Friend
    David Kellman
    David Kellman
    • Selfas Self
    Hedy Page
    Hedy Page
    • Self - David's Auntas Self - David's Aunt
    Alice Shafran
    Alice Shafran
    • Self - Bobby's Stepmotheras Self - Bobby's Stepmother
    Elliott Galland
    Elliott Galland
    • Self - Eddy's Fatheras Self - Eddy's Father
    Eddy Galland
    Eddy Galland
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Richard Kellman
    Richard Kellman
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Justine Wise Polier
    Justine Wise Polier
    • Self - President, Louise Wise Servicesas Self - President, Louise Wise Services
    • (archive footage)
    Mort Shafran
    Mort Shafran
    • Self - Bobby's Fatheras Self - Bobby's Father
    Ilene Shafran
    Ilene Shafran
    • Self - Bobby's Wifeas Self - Bobby's Wife
    Janet Kellman
    Janet Kellman
    • Self - David's Wifeas Self - David's Wife
    Brenda Galland
    Brenda Galland
    • Self - Eddy's Wifeas Self - Eddy's Wife
    Lawrence Wright
    Lawrence Wright
    • Self - Journalist & Authoras Self - Journalist & Author
    Natasha Josefowitz
    Natasha Josefowitz
    • Self - Peter Neubauer's Research Assistantas Self - Peter Neubauer's Research Assistant
    • Director
      • Tim Wardle
    • Writer
      • Grace Hughes-Hallett
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      They were actually quadruplets, the fourth died at birth and was unknown till after the documentary.
    • Goofs
      The Volvo used in the initial sequences was a later model year (from the 80's) than the actual year (in the 70's).
    • Quotes

      Robert Shafran: When I tell people my story, they don't believe it. I guess I wouldn't believe the story if someone else were telling it, but , I'm telling it and it's true, every word of it.

    • Connections
      Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movies You Missed This Summer (2018)
    • Soundtracks
      Since You Been Gone
      Written by Russ Ballard

      Performed by Rainbow

      Published by Union Square Music Songs Ltd., a BMG Company

      Courtesy of Polydor Records (US)

      Under license from Universal Music Operations Ltd.

    User reviews160

    Review
    Top review
    6/10
    Interesting and reasonably well-made, but morally questionable in how it presents some of the material
    What is the primary factor in making us who we are? Were the truly great figures of pure evil - Elizabeth Báthory, Adolf Hitler, Harold Shipman, Peter Scully, Adam Sandler - always destined to become who they became, or are there to be found moments and influences in their environment which turned them into the monsters with whom we're familiar? Is our destiny genetically encoded at the moment of our conception? Does biological determinism supersede free will? In short, it's the age-old question of nature vs. nurture. Focused on precisely these questions, twin studies involve researching twins to so as to compare and contrast the importance of genetic factors against environmental factors. When most people hear the term "twin studies", they probably think of Josef Mengele's sickening experiments in Auschwitz; however, these experiments were inhuman and not even remotely typical of scientifically approved twin studies, which are an accepted, if somewhat controversial, attempt to determine the etiology of differential psychologies in individuals who are genetically similar.

    And these are the murky waters charted by director Tim Wardle's Three Identical Strangers, presenting a bizarre stranger-than-fiction story, which begins as a light-hearted human-interest piece before taking several darker turns. However, for me, although the fascinating central story is undoubtedly gripping, there are just too many egregious problems in the telling, including an excess of distasteful sensationalism; a dearth of contextualising scientific information; overly simplistic ethical, moral, philosophical, and esoteric conclusions; stylistic drabness; and, an overreliance on plot twists, which often forces the filmmakers to manipulate the material beyond what you would expect of a documentary.

    The film tells the story of Bobby Shafran, Eddy Gallan, and David Kellman, three young men in New York, who, through luck and coincidence learn they are triplets who had been separated as babies. Upon meeting, they quickly bond, move into an apartment together, and open a restaurant in New York, Triplets Roumanian Steak House. Becoming minor celebrities, they appear on talk shows across the country and have a cameo in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). However, they and their families are puzzled as to why they had been separated, and why their adoptive parents had not been told they were triplets. Was it a coincidence that Bobby had been placed with an affluent family, Eddy with a middle-class family, and David with a blue-collar family? Did the regular aptitude and psychological tests they received as children, part of what their parents were told was a "routine childhood-development study", have anything to do with their separation? What was the involvement of one of the country's largest social service agencies, the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services? How much did New York's most preeminent Jewish adoption agency, Louise Wise Services, know? How was Dr. Peter B. Neubauer of the Jewish Board's Child Development Centre in Manhattan involved? How did the triplets' birth mother fit into what happened? As they begin to investigate, they soon stumble upon a series of shocking secrets that would change their lives, and the lives of many others, forever.

    A noticeable structural element concerns what Wardle and editor Michael Harte referred to at a Q&A after a screening in Dublin as a "past tense" and a "present tense". The past tense section covers roughly the first half of the film, running up to the end of the first round of interviews, which were conducted from 2011-2015. The present tense section then picks up in 2016. The transition between the two is pretty obvious, but it's worth mentioning as it's not something you usually see in a documentary. Half-way through the film, Wardle thanks Bobby and David, who are being interviewed separately, and they say goodbye, get up, and leave the room. It's very unusual to see a documentary film drawing attention to its own artifice in this manner - the furthest most will go will be to include the interviewer's voice, but even that is relatively rare. By featuring a scene like this, especially so early in the film, Wardle and Harte are alerting the audience to the fact that something has changed, and from here on out, things are going to be in a different register.

    The film has two major themes; morality/ethics and nature vs. nurture. In terms of morality, Wardle has referred to the scientists behind splitting the triplets up as succumbing to "noble cause corruption", arguing that they probably set out to accomplish something laudable, but were not above using unethical means to do so. It does, however, seem strange that when examining the morality of what was done to the brothers, Wardle makes no mention of David Reimer, a male who was reassigned as a girl in 1965 when he was only a few months old and raised female, based upon dishonest advice given to his parents by psychologist John Money, who was attempting to prove that gender identity is learned. As there are a lot of parallels between the brothers' stories and Reimer's, and between Neubauer and Money, including a reference or two would have helped contextualise things.

    As to the question of nature vs. nurture, initially, events seem to point very much to nature - the brothers all smoked the same brand of cigarettes; they had all been amateur wrestlers; they had the same taste in women; they had similar speech patterns. The media at the time ate this up, with their appearances on talk shows designed to leave the audience stunned at their similarities. However, as the documentary goes on, the argument shifts, with the brothers themselves admitting they emphasised their similarities at the time, and the media was more than happy to ignore any differences, leading to what was apparently a clear win for biological determinism. As time went on, their differences began coming to the surface, and ultimately, the documentary very much argues in favour of nurture.

    However, how it goes about establishing this argument is extremely questionable, with Wardle sliding more and more into sensationalism. So intent is he on controlling our perceptions that he leaves out a massive piece of information until such time as he deems it pertinent to reveal, and when he does so, he explicitly tells us what to think about it, pushing us to one specific response, when the event cries out for a more ambiguous presentation. It's difficult to go into any of this without straying into spoilers, so consider the rest of this paragraph a spoiler. Essentially, Wardle paints the suicide of one of the brothers as unquestionably the result of his adopted father's harsh disciplinarian parenting, a father who is still alive, and who appears in the film. Wardle and Harte do this by cutting from a clip of that father wondering if he had a role in the suicide to one of the other brothers basically saying, to paraphrase, "I'm still alive because my parents weren't as strict as his." Blaming his death entirely on parenting in this manner is facile, grossly overly simplistic, and offensive. In fact, the way Wardle handles the suicide in general is deplorable, teasing it and teasing it, before gleefully revealing it for maximum tabloid-esque shock value. The sense of Wardle manipulating the material isn't helped by the fact that the absence of the third brother from the talking head interviews tips off the audience from the get-go as to where the story is heading. Why not just state it right up front, cutting back on the silly twist element of the narrative? It's not like people would get up and walk out upon seeing a "spoiler" like that at the outset.

    There are other problems, however. Aesthetically, the documentary is drab and dull, almost lifeless. With nothing cinematic about it whatsoever, it could easily be a report from a TV news magazine show, designed for maximum exposure rather than artistic inventiveness. The recreations are bland, and the talking head interviews are flat. Additionally, twin studies are a recognised and accepted scientific practice, but Wardle is so intent on making sure we are appalled at what happened to the brothers that he provides almost no context whatsoever. If he had spent less time trying to steer the viewers' emotions and more in providing a broader theoretical framework, the film would have worked much better, allowing the audience to find their own position in relation to what was done rather than simply following the director's lead. He also ignores a great deal of potentially interesting material. For example, why did their restaurant fail? Indeed, we never really get any sense of what the brothers' day-to-day life was like after they found each other. When they moved in together, how did that feel, for example? It's as if he doesn't want to dig too deep into anything just in case he finds something that might not fit into the grand narrative he's constructing.

    The story of Three Identical Strangers poses fascinating questions about nature vs. nurture and the morality of certain types of research, but the film is so intent on the "nurture" answer that Wardle's subjective opinion comes across far more than it ought. More interested in driving home the shock value of some of the events than providing a penetrating documentary about free will vs biological determinism, there is little here that a reader wouldn't be able to find on Google. Given the outrageousness of the material, that Wardle has made such a conventional film is disappointing. It's an interesting enough piece, but that's more to do with the fascinating subject than the presentation.
    helpful•137
    64
    • Bertaut
    • Dec 11, 2018

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 30, 2018 (United Kingdom)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official Site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Три схожих незнайомці
    • Filming locations
      • La Jolla, California, USA
    • Production company
      • RAW
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $12,320,845
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $171,503
      • Jul 1, 2018
    • Gross worldwide
      • $13,448,497
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 36 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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