As the title implies, Separated @ Birth is about Korean twin sisters who were, well, separated at birth and grew up in different countries. Is also demonstrates the power of the Internet, as one (Anaïs Bordier) initiates contact with the other (Samantha Futerman) after watching her in a kevjumba YouTube video in 2012.
It’s an astounding story – Anaïs was adopted by an upper-middle class Parisian family and was an only child, while Samantha was adopted by a middle class Jewish family in New York as the youngest of three children. At the time, Anaïs was in fashion school in London, while Samantha worked in Los Angeles building an acting career in Hollywood.
The book follows a sort of she-said, the-other-said kind of format that builds up around several key events:
- Their first meeting (how’s that going to go?)
- Confirmation they’re actually twin sisters (is it true?)
- Meeting each other’s families (how are they going to take it?), and
- Traveling to Korea together for an adoptee conference
I think the most touching and poignant part of the book comes after the Korea trip, when Anaïs reevaluates some of the insecurities she’s dealt with all her life. It’s a recurring theme I’ve seen in the other adoptees I’ve known: “Who’s going to love me if my own mother didn’t love me enough to keep me?”
This moment is even better in the documentary film version of their story,
Twinsters. Samantha was savvy enough to realize early on that she was in a very marketable position, and involved a circle of friends to help film the experience. While the book is upbeat and interesting, the movie is compellingly emotional. What you’re watching is not a recreation – you’re actually in the room as everything unfolds.
The only thing I didn't like about the movie was the stress it put Anaïs through. While I'm sure she consented to everything, she’s an introvert and her family is much more private, so she wasn’t quite as used to all the cameras filming
all the time. It felt like I was intruding on an intensely personal experience, and didn't belong there.
My recommendation: read the book first (at least half-way) and then see the movie. It’ll help explain the whole “pop” thing.
Twinsters is available on Netflix’s streaming service.
1 comment:
From her trip to Korea, Anaïs learns that -- far from being unwanted -- she’s been loved at every stage of her entire life by people she can’t remember.
I think Korean adoptees suffer with this question ("Why was I not wanted?") because they suffer from a cruel sort of selection bias. Generally speaking, they’ve been loved by well-off Western families for as long as they can remember. As a result, they don’t really understand things like the crush of poverty, the situations their birth parents faced, or the choices that they decided on. It’s simply beyond their experience.
Post a Comment