A well-meaning but lumbering drama that commingles doomed romance, ancestral mystery and wartime horror, Twice Born is the type of cinematic slog that one watches and thinks, “This would actually be much more interesting as a book.” And that makes sense, really, because that is its original medium.
Adapted by Margaret Mazzantini from her own novel of the same name, director Sergio Castellitto’s film—in English, but with liberal sprinkles of Italian and Serbian to bolster its authenticity—unfolds against the backdrop of the 1992 siege of Sarajevo, and the forward-reaching consequences of the same. While not without some nice moments from stars Penelope Cruz and Emile Hirsch, and a third-act twist that is affecting if also not entirely well set up, Twice Born suffers from poor characterizations, curious plotting and other assorted editorial missteps.
The film is parceled out largely in flashbacks from its present day of 2008, but basically tells the story of Gemma (Cruz) and Diego (Hirsch), who first meet in Sarajevo during the 1984 Winter Olympics. He’s an American photographer who sees wonderment everywhere, she’s … well, it’s never quite clear what Gemma does. But even though she’s set to be married, Diego impulsively declares his love for her on the day they meet. It’s the type of gesture that, in a comedy or even a more psychologically honest movie, would indicate temporary libidinal blindness, and show how Diego merely wants to get in Gemma’s pants. (It works.) Because Diego and Twice Born are each achingly sincere, however, it’s a marker for the characters’ star-crossed destiny.
So the two hook up, and are desperate for children. Gemma, however, seems infertile. After a miscarriage and failed run at adoption over a number of years, their mutual friend Gojko (Adnan Haskovic) sets them up with a potential surrogate mother, Aska (Saadet Aksoy), a would-be rocker with an affinity for Kurt Cobain. By this time, however, Yugoslavia is falling apart, racked by civil war and intense ethnic strife. Against this backdrop, Aska gives birth, but only Gemma and the baby escape the country. Years later Gemma, now remarried and living in Italy, returns to Sarajevo with her now-teenage son Pietro (Pietro Castellitto), trying to attain some sense of closure.