I noticed that the run time of this movie is listed as 137 minutes on IMDb. However, the DVD I watched was only 118 minutes. So, I have to wonder what I missed in this American DVD release?! I hate when films are chopped to pieces. Stupid, stupid, stupid DVD.

While I cannot stand that some moron would consider chopping this film to pieces, I must say that what's left is exceptional. Very original, very touching and very well made.

"Twin Sisters" begins in the 1920s. After their parents died, two 6 year-old twin sisters are homeless. Oddly, one goes to live with a poor uncle and aunt in Germany and the other to live with well to do family in Holland. And, it gets more strange, as both new sets of parents apparently hate the other and want the girls to have nothing to do with each other! And, since the one going to Holland was sickly, the sister in Germany assumes her sister died as she heard nothing from her--though in reality, the sisters letters were stolen by her new parents! Years pass. WWII has just begun when the sister in Holland discovers all the stolen letters. She learns where her sister is and goes to visit her in Nazi Germany. The trip goes very well--until the German sister makes an offhanded antisemitic comment about how her sister's fiancé looks like a Jew. The Dutch sister stomps off and the German sister has no idea what's occurred--nor does she understand why her sister will have nothing to do with her. In reality, the Dutch lady is engaged to a Jew...and the coming invasion of her country eventually leads to his being sent to a concentration camp.

In the meantime, the German sister meets a soldier and falls in love with him. Eventually, they marry and are quite happy. But, he's killed in the war. He also happened to be an officer in the SS--the same evil organization that committed mass genocide.

What will happen with these two sisters now that so much has happened? See the film and find out for yourself.

Overall, the film is brilliantly written, acted and directed. It's not surprising, then, that it was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It didn't win--probably because it was one of the strongest years I've seen for this category. Plus, "Barbarian Invasions" (the winner) was an incredibly great film. Regardless, "Twin Sisters" is well worth seeing and haunting. However, the subject matter is a bit intense and not appropriate for younger audiences.

Little prepares Lotte and Anna, twin sisters living happily with their beloved father, for what life had in store for them. After the girls' father dies, they are left alone at the mercy of relatives who separate them in an act of sheer cruelty. Lotte and Anna go through a lot in life, not knowing, at times, about one another, and spend most of their lives apart.

Lotte fares better of the two sisters. She was a frail girl growing up and her relatives dote on her since they regard her as an invalid. Lotte writes to Anna letters during the first years of being apart, but those letters are never sent. Anna, on the other hand, is made a slave, practically, as she is made to help in the family farm and is never given the opportunity to attend school until the kind priest discovers how she has been severely beaten.

The other encounter of the sisters occur too late in life. Lotte, who when first visits Anna at the place where she is employed as a maid, by a wealthy Nazi sympathizer, is appalled by the way Anna has turned out to be an anti Semite. This puts a barrier between them not to be broken until both are too old and too stubborn to recognize how wrong they both have been about the past. Their last reunion is a bitter experience, especially for Anna, who is in poor health.

This excellent Dutch film directed by Ben Sombogaart, is based on a novel by Tessa DeLoo, which was published in this country as "Twins", gets a magnificent treatment in a lavish production that covers several decades. The action is set in Holland and in Germany.

The basic reason for watching the film is the great acting the director got from Thekla Reutins and Nadja Uhl, who are seen as the young Lotte and Anna. Both these young actresses are perfect as the twins in their youth. Ellen Vogel and Gudrum Okras, on the other hand, are also effective as the older sisters have a final confrontation at a spa where both have gone for cures.

The film shows a talented director, Ben Bombogaart, doing an excellent job in this richly layered tale of sisterly love and missed opportunities.

In 1926, in Colony, Germany, the twin sisters Anna and Lotte Bamberg are separated after the death of their parents. Anna stays in Germany with her ignorant catholic uncle and aunt in their small property, and Lotte, with tuberculosis, moves to Holland. Anna is not sent to school, to work in the farm, while Lotte is raised by an upper class family having good education. They do not have any contact with each other, but near the World War II they meet each other. Later Anna marries a young SS officer, while Lotte is engaged of a Jewish musician. Their lives follow different and opposite paths with the war.

Based on the Dutch bestseller novel written by Tessa de Loo, the Oscar nominated "De Tweeling" is a magnificent movie. The dramatic story of these twin sisters, forced to a separation in their childhood, and following parallel lives due to WWII, is very sad, but never corny. I felt very sorry for the suffered character of Anna, and in the end I was very sad with this touching and sensitive movie. The direction and performance of this unknown cast is amazing and this movie is a must-see. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Irmãs Gêmeas" ("Twin Sisters")