Twin, a specular reflection of two lives

In the 60s, the United States psychiatrists had the odd idea of separating twins abandoned at birth in an attempt to better understand the differences between nature and nurture.

So Paula and Elyse were adopted each by different families, one in United States and the other in France. When they found each other, thirty-five years later, it was a "tremendous shock", Elyse told in a book published last year.

The young woman discovered a thousand and one thing in common with her "other version". In short, the two lived parallel lives without even knowing each other.

The bond between twins is a mystery that science is not even about to break. It is a unique relationship, which transcends all others, resists time and testing (and even preposterous) experiences!

For thirty years, our eyes are accustomed to seeing more and more children of similar age to the high similarity: the number of twin births jumped more than 60% under the effect of maternal age and the progress of treatments against infertility.

Most often, these are fraternal twins, result of simultaneous fertilization of two ova by two sperms. Twin pregnancies are better monitored now and multiple births are less risky than before, for both the mother and children. Thanks to genetics, finally, we better understand the manufacturing process of the two people in an identical genetic heritage that are identical twins. An event that is extremely rare (8% of twin births).

3D ultrasound shows how this complicity was knotted in the womb. Nearly nine months of closed in utero, kicking, groping, and kissing! The film shows a great sequence where the two seek and embrace through the thin membrane that separates them, like a kiss exchanged through a window.

This complicity in the womb, the common truths and fraternal twins, prints all their infancy. It requires an extra step in learning of self-reliance. We must respect this phase of twin fusion, and that's an aberration to separate them too early.

No earlier but around the age of 6 years, the separation can and should be done. Adolescence is a particularly sensitive because it's the time when the twins are redefining the link to their associate. Failures are rare but they exist, especially in cases where the dominant twin crushes the other.

The twinning requires a special effort of parents to constantly remind children that they don't need to be alike, they have the right to have ideas and different personalities. This is the condition of a successful twinning.

Differentiation goes beyond clothing.

Among the most fascinating mysteries of twinning, is that science is just beginning to fathom: a significant number of pregnancies (15% to 20%, according to studies) are twin pregnancies that are fatal to one of the twins. One child does not survive, and the baby born alone remains marked for life by its missing "twin"...

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