Tell Me Who I Am

Tell Me Who I Am is a 2019 documentary film directed and produced by the British filmmaker Ed Perkins. It focuses on twin brothers Alex and Marcus Lewis. Alex lost his memory in a motorcycle accident at age 18 and his twin brother helped him recreate his lost memories of his childhood. However, Marcus omits that the twins were sexually abused by their mother and also sexually abused by friends of hers in a paedophile network until the age of 14. The film follows Alex and Marcus in telling their lives' stories from the accident at age 18 to age 32, when the sexual abuse is revealed after their mother's death, to both of them coming to terms with the abuse at age 54. The documentary is based on a 2013 book written by the twins together with Joanna Hodgkin.

Tell Me Who I Am
Directed byEd Perkins
Produced bySimon Chinn
Starring
  • Alex Lewis
  • Marcus Lewis
Music byGary Welch
CinematographyErik Alexander Wilson
Edited byDavid Charap
Distributed by
Release date
  • 18 October 2019 (2019-10-18)
Running time
86 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The film was commissioned by and aired on Netflix. It received acclaim from critics after its release and was described as "harrowing"[2] and "involving but upsetting".[3]

Synopsis

The documentary is split into three parts. In the first part, the viewer follows Alex trying to solve the mystery of his past and trying to figure out who he is after losing his memory in a motorcycle accident at age 18 in 1982. His twin brother, Marcus, helps him with it and also helps him to reintegrate into life. In the second part, Marcus reveals that he omitted a dark family secret from Alex in order to protect him from harrowing memories of his past. This was also partly due to the fact that after the accident Alex was not functioning and behaving like an adult but seemed to have the mental age of a 9 year old. Marcus painted a picture of a happy childhood and a wealthy well-connected family for Alex that never existed. At age 32, Marcus reveals to Alex that their mother sexually abused them after they find naked pictures of them when they clean out the house after their mother's death. In the third part, Marcus and Alex sit down together and Marcus reveals that not only did their mother sexually abuse them but that she also drove them to different friends of hers all over Britain and that those friends abused them as well up until the age of 14 when Marcus fought back and it stopped for both of them. Marcus apologises to Alex for not telling the whole story at age 32, but states that he was not able to do it because he was too traumatised himself, and denying that it had happened to Alex helped him forget about it too.

Background

The documentary film is based on the book with the same name written by the twins and Joanna Hodgkin.

Book
  • Tell Me Who I Am ISBN 978-1444757262
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References
  1. "Film Review: 'Tell Me Who I Am". Variety. Variety. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  2. "'Tell Me Who I Am' Review: A Harrowing Netflix Doc About Twins Separated by Secret Trauma". indiewire.com. indiewire. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  3. "Tell Me Who I Am review – amnesia documentary is like a psychological thriller". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
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