TELL ME WHO I AM
UK, 2019, 85 minutes, Colour.
Alex Lewis, Marcus Lewis, Evan Milton, Luke Mulhern, Thomas Mulhern, Kathleen Ray.
Directed by Ed Perkins.
This is a powerful documentary. Very powerful.
The subjects of the documentary are two brothers, identical twins. One of them, Alex, suffers an accident on a motorbike while young and loses all of his memory except his identification with his brother, Marcus.
Alex has to rely on Marcus for all the information about the family and his growing up, about many practical details of life. Marcus, immediately and over the years, fills in the details of Alex’s life. He tells him stories, he shows him photos, Alex looks at television and sees an idealised family life. Alex is curious and continues to interrogate his brother who continues to give him details of their life..
The film is highly stylised which has raised questions among some audiences about its authenticity, checking medical evidence that someone could lose his complete memory except for his brother, that this situation is something of a fiction, contrived.
In fact, the brothers had written an article which appeared in 2013. The director of this film, Ed Perkins, spent some time with the brothers discussing the project, this sometimes wanting to withdraw from it.
The decision was made by the brothers, filmed when they were 54 and reminiscing about events over a period of 40 years, to go to a stage and stage set, sit at a table and speak to camera. The screenplay and dialogue is so polished that it must have been written and edited. The action is divided into three acts, the first with Alex, the second with Marcus, the third with the two brothers together.
Which means then that the audience He Is Alex’s experience first of all, his explanation of his loss of memory, his dependence on Marcus, is absorbing the story that Marcus told him, the story of an aloof father, a loving mother, idyllic holidays in France, a nice family life.
In the second act, with Marcus speaking, he begins to answer some of Alex’s questions, especially about Marcus’s lack of grief when their mother dies. Marcus is at first reluctant but eventually admits that his whole story was a fabrication. Their mother comes out very badly from Marcus’s story, the tall strong minded woman who exploited her two sons, sexually abused them in her bed, then took them out, singly, to friends and associates for a meal, then leaving them, the friend then abusing the children and she collecting them. This went on for some time. It has had a profound effect on Marcus and he was shielding Alex who had no memory of these experiences.
When Alex confronted Marcus about the reality, Marcus felt that he must keep silent, having created a fantasy story about his own life, not wanting to let the past and its reality come into his life.
Which meant then a tension between the two brothers for decades, their working together, each marrying, each having two children, but the truth and the fictitious story a barrier between them.
Ultimately, Marcus agrees to have a face-to-face sequence with Alex. However, he backs out and lets Alex watch a pre-recorded interview with Marcus about how the estrangement has had an effect on each.
This is enabling for Marcus to be free of some burdens, for Alex to come to terms with his loss of memory, the full story, the true story. They finally embrace – at the age of 54.
Some bloggers are sceptical about the reality of the story and the characters and their interactions. Other bloggers are profoundly moved by this story, shocked by the story of sexual abuse in the family, finding watching the film a staring and challenging experience.
