Three Identical Strangers

Name: Three Identical Strangers
Genre: Documentary
Released: June 29, 2018
Duration: 96 min
Rating: 81
Cast: Adrian Lichter, Andrew Lovesey, David Kellman, David Straus, Eddy Galland

2018

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 30 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 71 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	Your Score
7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 71 Ratings

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Three Identical Strangers

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Movie Details & Credits

CNN Films | Release Date: June 29, 2018 | PG-13

Starring: Adrian Lichter, Andrew Lovesey, David Kellman, David Straus, Eddy Galland, Evan LeRose, Rachel VanDuzer, Robert Shafran, Ron Guttman, Scott Murray, Scotty Murray, Silvi Alzetta-Reali

Summary: Three strangers are reunited by astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families. Their jaw-dropping, feel-good story instantly becomes a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity, however, the fairy-tale reunion sets in motion a series of events that unearth anThree strangers are reunited by astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families. Their jaw-dropping, feel-good story instantly becomes a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity, however, the fairy-tale reunion sets in motion a series of events that unearth an unimaginable secret - a secret with radical repercussions for us all. [Neon]… Expand

Director: Tim Wardle

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 96 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Mick LaSalle

Jul 6, 2018

Three Identical Strangers tells a remarkable story. In fact, it tells several. It’s already extraordinary 20 minutes in, and then it goes to unexpected and yet more amazing places, like a narrative feature by a master storyteller. Read full review

David Edelstein

Jun 27, 2018

The director, Tim Wardle, has shaped the film as a detective story in which the more pieces of the puzzle are filled in, the more disgusted and infuriated we become. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Jul 24, 2018

There have been better documentaries this year, but none of them are the roller-coaster ride that Three Identical Strangers turns out to be. Read full review

Peter Debruge

Apr 18, 2018

A gripping, stranger-than-fiction account of a real-world medical conspiracy, the film begins as a human-interest story and builds to an impressive work of investigative journalism into how and why they were placed with the families who raised them. Read full review

Sucheta Chakraborty

Nov 29, 2018

Tim Wardle engagingly recounts the fascinating story of a set of triplets who were separated at birth and reunited through coincidence when they were 19. The telling however slowly takes a darker turn as facts around the original separation are probed and frightening truths about science and human intent come to the surface. Read full review

Gayle MacDonald

Jul 12, 2018

Once the euphoria passes, director Tim Wardle takes his audience on an engrossing, heartbreaking journey into the lives of three innocents whose lives became experiments for scientists on a quest to unravel how identity is shaped. Sadly, in their zeal to figure out if nurture or nature wins, they forgot the human beings in the middle of the mix. Read full review

The Film Stage Daniel Schindel

Director Tim Wardle lays a lot on the strength of the events he’s covering, and they are indeed compelling enough on their own to hold your interest. The flipside of this is that the film has little power outside of a first viewing. Read full review

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User Reviews

Deanomite

Jan 18, 2020

Best movie of 2018. Very nicely filmed, the nostalgia scenes look perfect. Like any good doc, it's all character and story and this one is amazing. Very very powerful.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GinaK

Jul 9, 2018

Documentaries are hard to find in movie houses these days. Gone are the days when you could see films by Werner Herzog and Errol Morris fairly regularly. However, Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers” is a worthy successor to the films of these great documentarians and you might be ableDocumentaries are hard to find in movie houses these days. Gone are the days when you could see films by Werner Herzog and Errol Morris fairly regularly. However, Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers” is a worthy successor to the films of these great documentarians and you might be able to see it locally. What makes this film worth your time? First of all, it is well-made technically and not only keeps you interested with “just the facts” but it also does what all great documentaries do – it asks penetrating questions and debates ideas (for example, nature vs nurture and should cold logical science be applied dispassionately to human subjects regardless of the damage that might be done). But you don’t need to think about these serious topics to enjoy it as a weird tale of what happens to these “three identical strangers.”… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Arnchise

Jul 9, 2020

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Three Identical Strangers tells the story of triplets who were separated at birth and adopted out to three different families who end up finding each 19 years later. When the parents and triplets start looking into the circumstances of their adoption, they uncover a horrible experiment that raises questions about medical ethics. Watching this documentary, I couldn't stop feeling heartbroken at how this dangerous experiment effected their mental health and how this experiment turned unwilling participants into lab rats. From the adoptive parents to the triplets. As the documentary goes on, one of the triplets story, Eddy, I found especially horrifying. The effect of this experiment had on him to point were he commented suicide just broke my heart. The documentary ends posing the question how many other twins were separated at birth because of this experiment and should these twins find out that they were indeed a part of this experiment? It's a long lasting question that I struggle to answer because weighing up the ethical problems of keeping twins separated compared to the mental health problems that face these twins once they find out about the experiment they were a part of is a delicate juggling act. The documentary does have some problems though. An underlying theme of the documentary is the nature vs nurture debate. One of the ways in which the documentary discusses this debate is Eddy's suicide and the role in which Eddy's father played in it. The way the documentary framed that part of the story is that Eddy's father played a role in his suicide through the way in which he raised Eddy. I feel this is incredibly unfair on Eddy's father as it moves the focus away from the experiment. It's especially heart breaking watching Eddy's father telling the story of when he found out his son had committed suicide in the frame the documentary created that says that Eddy's father played a role in it. The documentary also brushed over that Bobby, one of the triplets, played a role in a murder. the documentary talks about it for at most 30 seconds and doesn't touch on it again. However, despite these faults, I found the documentary to be an excellent insight into a horrible experiment that raises important questions about medical ethics and nature vs nurture.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Slovenly_Muse

Dec 24, 2018

Not content to simply present a fun human interest story (identical triplets separated at birth reuniting by chance as adults), this documentary delves into the story and peels back layer after fascinating layer.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GrantD243

Jul 11, 2018

Three Identical Strangers is a documentary that tells the remarkable and rather disturbing story of a set of triplets that were separated at birth by an adoption agency and placed in three different households, but by complete coincidence two of them find each other when they're around 19Three Identical Strangers is a documentary that tells the remarkable and rather disturbing story of a set of triplets that were separated at birth by an adoption agency and placed in three different households, but by complete coincidence two of them find each other when they're around 19 years old, and then the third enters the picture after seeing his two brothers in the newspaper. Unfortunately, that's about as far as I can go without getting into spoilers, which would really ruin the experience with this film. The story telling here is quite good. They do a great job of setting up a happy story about three brothers re-uniting after growing up separately before delving into what is really a dark story. Every time it seems like it's reached an end there is more to be told and uncovered. There are a few moments where it seems like the mystery is hyped up a little bit more than it needs to be, but that's a rather small nitpick. It's very well made and is better than your run-of-the-mill TV/Netflix documentary. I think it's well worth the watch.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JLuis_001

Feb 27, 2020

The subject is fascinating and that's what keeps it working because the approach lacks objectivity and is more focused on emotionality.

Even so it was entertaining.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

valixt

Sep 7, 2018

The conformity of the trailer didn't spark my interest to this "extraorndinary" story.

0 of 9 users found this helpful09

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