No response to my post about the Three Identical Strangers documentary, which is disappointing because I was hoping to discuss it with somebody. It does give me free rein to give my view without spoiling the ending for anybody, though.
It's a documentary about triplets in the US that had been separated at birth (or more specifically at six months old) and put up for adoption. At the start of the documentary it seems like a feel-good story about the three brothers meeting up in their late teens, but it soon turns darker. It turns out that they were adopted (via the same agency) by three distinctly different families - one blue-collar, one middle-class and one affluent - in a sociological experiment around the nature v nurture question (none of the adoptive parents were made aware of this). When they are re-united they become celebrities and much is made of their similarities - they have the same mannerisms, smoke the same cigarettes, all took up wrestling and share the same taste in women - but this is superficial. We're tempted to suspect that their similarities are despite their different upbringings and that nature rules, but as more is revealed about the experiment the opposite becomes clear. Each of the sets of parents had previously adopted girls as part of the experiment, and their parenting styles had been monitored to provide the required contrasts. The focus is on the fathers, and the blue-collar father was a caring, attentive father loved by all (the re-united triplets would congregate in this house), the affluent father was rarely at home (away on business trips) and the middle-class father was an ex-army disciplinarian.
All three of the triplets have psychological problems, but one commits suicide, one is damaged, and the third seems to turn out pretty well grounded. I'll leave you to guess which is which.
The documentary is ultimately frustrating because the results of the study were never published, but it's fascinating, moving and ultimately very disturbing. I'm sure it can still be found on catch-up. Worth watching.