--- title: "Three Identical Strangers" year: 2018 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/three-identical-strangers" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 22 published: "2026-09-17T05:33:19.064807+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T05:33:29.355828+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Three Identical Strangers (2018) Directed by Tim Wardle · 1h 37m · MPA PG-13 · Documentary **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 77 from 22 reviews *In a sentence:* Three identical grins on every chat show in America, and an adoption agency that would rather not talk about it > Tim Wardle’s documentary starts as a tabloid delight, three strangers with one face, and turns into something that made us angry. It is built like a thriller, which is why it grips and also why it sometimes seems too pleased with its own twists. ## Synopsis New York, 1980. Robert Shafran arrives for his first term at a community college upstate and is greeted by strangers who call him Eddy. Within days he has met the young man they mistook him for, discovered a shared birthday and a shared adoption agency, and made the newspapers, where David Kellman recognises his own face in the photograph. Three identical brothers, raised apart by three families who were never told, become a daytime television sensation and open a restaurant together. Their parents go to the agency that placed the boys, Louise Wise Services, and ask why. Shafran and Kellman tell the story as themselves; the writer Lawrence Wright, who has spent years on separated twins, explains what the paperwork shows. ## Review In 1980 a nineteen-year-old called Robert Shafran turns up for his first day at a community college in upstate New York and is greeted like an old friend by people he has never met. They call him Eddy. Within days he has met the young man they mistook him for, found that they share a birthday and an adoption agency, and been photographed for the newspapers, where a third young man, David Kellman, sees his own face. Tim Wardle’s documentary gets through this in its first twenty minutes, mostly by letting Shafran and Kellman, now in their fifties, tell it to camera with the grins of men who have told it a thousand times. They are good company. The story does not stop there. Every review and the poster itself make clear that it darkens, so we will say only that the second half asks why three babies were separated at all, and that the answer is not a comfortable one. Wardle has built the film like a thriller, with information held back and released on a schedule, and for most of its 97 minutes that works. This is a good documentary, brisk and humane, worth your evening. It has two flaws that matter, and we will come to them. Michael Harte’s editing is the engine. He runs the reunion three times, once from each direction, and each pass adds a detail the last one held back, so the first act has the pull of an anecdote told by someone who knows when to pause. The archive is a gift: three young men in matching jackets and matching hair on daytime television, finishing each other’s sentences while the studio audience loses its mind. Tim Cragg shoots the present-day interviews against dark backgrounds with the brothers framed identically, so you find yourself checking one face against the other, which is the film’s whole subject. The reconstructions of 1980 are amber-lit, actors seen from behind or in pieces, and Dawn Thompson puts them in the wide collars and flared denim of the year without anyone winking. We laughed at the chat-show footage, as we were meant to. Then came the scene that made us angry. The three families, having found each other, go to the Manhattan agency that placed the boys, Louise Wise Services, and ask why nobody told them. They are given an answer that answers nothing. One of the fathers, going back for a forgotten umbrella, sees the staff through a doorway opening a bottle of champagne. It is told plainly, by people who were there, with no music under it, and it is where the film turns. We sat with it for some time afterwards. Nothing later in the film frightened us as much as that glimpse of relief on the wrong faces. The journalist Lawrence Wright, who was writing about separated twins long before this story reached him, is brought in to explain what the paperwork points to, and he is clear and careful. Here the flaws show. Paul Saunderson’s score, which has hummed low strings under the interviews from the start, now treats every filing cabinet as a threat, and by the hour mark ordinary sentences are being scored like confessions. The film raises a large question about how much of a person is settled before birth and lets its interviewees dispose of it in a few lines. And there is a third brother. The film uses his story to drive its last act and spends less time on him as a person than on either of the men sitting in front of the camera. Set beside *The Imposter* (2012), the other British documentary built as a run of twists, this is the plainer and kinder film, more interested in the people at its centre than in its own cleverness. It is also less careful about the line between what it knows and what it suspects. Do not look the brothers up beforehand. Wardle has decided the order in which you learn things, and it is a fair order. The poster calls this the most amazing, incredible, remarkable true story ever told. It is not. It is a sad one, told well, with too many violins in it. *Fi1m score 74, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like it, and nearly all describe the same shape: a cheerful tabloid story about triplets reunited as young men that turns, in its second half, into something much darker about how and why they were separated. The praise goes to Tim Wardle’s structure, which lays the story out chronologically and withholds information so that each revelation lands, and to the pacing and editing, which several reviews call brisk, gripping or thriller-like. The brothers themselves, lively on camera, are credited with holding it together. The reservations are about depth rather than execution. Slant finds Wardle too taken with his twists, favouring plot over the brothers’ emotional lives, and The Telegraph thinks the film falls short conceptually, particularly on nature versus nurture. The AV Club, otherwise admiring, thinks that thesis is pushed further than the evidence allows. The spread is narrow: nineteen positive, three mixed, nobody hostile. ### Reviews we read (22) - **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★★): This superlative documentary begins as a quirky human-interest tale of reunited triplets before revealing twists about scientific research and a cover-up. It expertly raises provocative questions about free will while keeping focus on the profound injustice done to the subjects. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/article/three-identical-strangers-review-v8pfbv6k7) - **Vulture** (85/100, inferred): The knockout documentary starts as a goofy tabloid story and drifts into darker waters of horror and tragedy. Wardle shapes it as a detective story revealing a diabolical secret study, holding viewers with the brothers' existential anguish. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2018/06/three-identical-strangers-movie-review.html) - **The AV Club**, Mike D'Angelo (B+): The documentary delivers a mind-boggling true story that grows more disturbing with each revelation about a secret scientific experiment. Wardle lays it out chronologically but overreaches slightly on the nature-vs-nurture thesis while still fascinating throughout. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-true-story-of-three-identical-strangers-gets-crazie-1827134953) - **Little White Lies**, Matthew Eng (3/4/3): The review highlights the film's surprising twists and emotional depth, particularly the sadness and the investigation into the cruel separation; praises the humane portrait but notes some filmmaking shortcomings. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/three-identical-strangers) - **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (80/100, inferred): The intensely compelling documentary reconstructs the triplets’ reunion and uncovers further twists about their separation as part of a psychological study. Wardle’s twisty structure and brisk pacing make it riveting, though sometimes overly slick. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-three-identical-strangers-review-20180628-story.html) - **RogerEbert.com**, Glenn Kenny (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the documentary starts as a light human-interest tale but shifts to a dark exploration of conspiracy and tragedy involving the triplets' separation. Wardle’s narrative strategy of withholding key information heightens the impact of the revelations about the adoption agency’s agenda. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/three-identical-strangers-2018) - **Screen Daily** (80/100, inferred): Describes it as a bizarre and fascinating doc that uncovers a disturbing story of social engineering and conspiracy; praises the dogged investigative approach and shocking revelations. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/three-identical-strangers-sundance-review/5125578.article) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney (80/100, inferred): The documentary chronicles the startling reunion of triplets separated at birth and the disturbing ethical questions that emerge. Wardle tells this strange, distressing story with great skill and compassion in a brisk, absorbing package. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/three-identical-strangers-sundance-2018-1075831/) - **The Independent** (80/100, inferred): The critic calls the film mind-boggling and notes it starts as an upbeat feelgood story before growing darker and more disturbing. Wardle is praised for tackling an astonishing story in a conventional yet restrained manner with the result being both uplifting and terribly depressing. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/three-identical-strangers-review-documentary-release-date-trailer-a8656041.html) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (75/100, inferred): The film presents a weird-but-true story of triplets separated at birth that turns into a dark conspiracy. It remains a charming story until the revelations make it even weirder than expected. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/three-identical-strangers-review-sundance-2018-1201919200/) - **The New York Times** (75/100, inferred): The film is an engrossing and sometimes enraging account of triplets reunited after separate adoptions, turning into a detective story about unethical scientific experiments. Wardle mixes archival footage, interviews, and recreations to reveal a grim story of hubris and abuse in the name of science. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/movies/three-identical-strangers-review-documentary.html) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (70/100, inferred): Tim Wardle’s compelling documentary turns a feelgood reunion story into something much darker, revealing a secret research project that deliberately separated the triplets. The critic praises its gripping narrative and the way it exposes the profound sadness that followed the initial ecstasy. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/28/three-identical-strangers-review-triplets-research-tim-wardle) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (70/100, inferred): The documentary recounts the triplets’ joyful public reunion that masks a disturbing scientific project behind their separation by an adoption agency. The tale moves from surprise and absurdity to bafflement and sadness, with files on the experiment remaining sealed for decades. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/02/leave-no-trace-and-three-identical-strangers) - **Variety**, Peter Debruge (70/100, inferred): Tim Wardle’s gripping documentary reveals the triplets’ reunion as the start of uncovering a larger medical conspiracy behind their separation. It begins as a human-interest story and builds into impressive investigative journalism. [Read](https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/three-identical-strangers-review-1202755378/) - **The Telegraph** (3/5): The film entertainingly spins the nature-nurture debate through the triplets’ story but falls short conceptually, with some weaknesses in its approach to the missing brother and overall depth. It remains an absorbing documentary with strong anecdotal value. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/three-identical-strangers-review-absorbing-doc-stops-just-short/) - **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (3/5): The critic finds the documentary gripping and thought-provoking about the triplets' story, but notes the mood sours as darker truths emerge; praises the journalistic approach and the shocking revelations of cruelty in the adoption. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/three-identical-strangers) - **Slant Magazine**, Chuck Bowen (50/100, inferred): Wardle tells an extraordinary story but stays at the surface excitement of its twists, favoring plot over character and atmosphere. The film misses opportunities to explore the brothers' emotional lives in depth despite the compelling subject matter. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/three-identical-strangers/) - **Collider**, Adam Chitwood (A): The critic calls the documentary shocking, poignant, and moving as it examines the nature vs. nurture debate through the triplets' story. It effectively shifts tones from light to thrilling while keeping focus on the subjects' humanity. [Read](https://collider.com/three-identical-strangers-review-documentary/) - **The Wrap**, Dan Callahan (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the documentary's suspenseful structure that mimics the triplets' joyful initial reunion before revealing the sinister reasons for their separation as part of a psychological experiment. Wardle is credited with journalistic persistence in crafting a nerve-jangling thriller. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/three-identical-strangers-film-review-cnn-triplets/) - **The Playlist**, Kimber Myers (B+): This stranger-than-fiction documentary is immediately engrossing thanks to its bonkers true story and charming subjects, with strong pacing, editing and reenactments that keep it entertaining. It falls short by raising questions about the brothers' separation and later lives without fully answering them. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/three-identical-strangers-review-20180629/) - **Consequence** (80/100, inferred): The review notes the film starts unpromisingly but becomes enthralling with its revelations about the adoption experiment and its implications for genetics and family. It praises the later sections for insight into the brothers' reflections and the sinister science involved. [Read](https://consequence.net/2018/06/film-review-three-identical-strangers/) - **Eye for Film**, Amber Wilkinson (80/100, inferred): The surprises keep coming in this documentary that begins as remarkable and grows increasingly jaw-dropping. The lively testimony of the brothers, supported by archive footage and family input, provides a strong through line while the director balances personal emotion with broader implications. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/three-identical-strangers-2018-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) ## Details - **Director:** Tim Wardle - **Director:** Tim Wardle - **Cinematography:** Tim Cragg - **Editor:** Michael Harte - **Music:** Paul Saunderson - **Costume design:** Dawn Thompson - **Producer:** Grace Hughes-Hallett, Becky Read - **Cast:** David Kellman as Self; Robert Shafran as Self; Lawrence Wright as Self - **Runtime:** 1h 37m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 29 June 2018 - **Genres:** Documentary - **Box office:** $1 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM5TQ4f7ycw ## Where to watch in the US - Tubi: free, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, IE, IN, IT, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Sundance Special Jury Prize Documentary 2018: Sundance Special Jury Prize Documentary (won) ## If you liked this - *The Imposter* (2012): Another British documentary that lets a true story unfold as a series of traps - *Capturing the Friedmans* (2003): A family’s home footage turned against them; the same queasy pull, more doubt - *Stories We Tell* (2012), Fi1m 77: Sarah Polley investigates her own parentage and is honest about what she cannot know — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/stories-we-tell.md) - *Twinsters* (2015): Two adopted sisters find each other online; the cheerful half of this story, on its own - *Tell Me Who I Am* (2019): Twin brothers, one memory between them, and a secret one kept for decades --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/three-identical-strangers