Bound By Flesh (Leslie Zemeckis, 2012): USA

Reviewed by Grace Williamson at the Metro IV, Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Walking into a full house trying to find a seat while working on the phone and asking if seats are occupied; I opp for the second row, because that’s where the seats lean back, I take a deep breathe and brace for a movie I knew nothing about.

This story does not waste a moment to lag it jumps right in to explain the life of this amazing set of conjoined twins named Daisy and Violet.  In 1908 they were born in Brighton, England to a terrified mother that she had just brought “freaks” into the world.  Thinking she was being punished, she refused to even hold them, she sold them to Mary Hilton, her midwife. Their mother was just the womb and nothing more in Daisy and Violet’s lives.  At this time there had never been a successful separation of conjoined twins.  They soon became known as the “Brighton United Twins” with people paying to view them in Hilton’s home and bar.

Thus began their life in the infamous sideshows; by the age of 8 they were multi-talented with precision in reciting, reading, singing, violin, piano, and saxophone.  They were kept in line by “Auntie” and a number of “Sirs” with brutality.  Mary promoted them as if they were in an “As Seen On TV” product.

In 1915 they moved to San Francisco, but were stalled at Angel Island. The officials were unsure if they should let the conjoined twins into the United States- meanwhile Mary spread the tale to all the newspapers in the city and with the press on her side the girls were permitted into the states.

Before there were movies, television, or radio in the US, the only entertainment was at the circus and carnivals.  “Sideshows are only about 100 years old.” Every circus, fair, or carnival had a sideshow; the born freaks were the royalty of sideshows and ruled it. All these people were handicapped and exploited but there was nothing else for them.  At this time there was slim to no government funding for these disabled or handicapped people, they might have gotten by with family or they were in sideshows.  But it was nothing to look down on or feel sorry for because people loved being in sideshows; “they were paid to be there and people were paying to see them.”

In April 1919 Mary Hilton passed away and her daughter Edith Hilton had married.  Edith and new husband Meyer Meyers, decided who better to manage the girls than Meyer himself, who from then on drastically changed both Daisy and Violets lives.  Meyer became their manager and punished them by hitting them and required them to sleep in the same room, the girls lacked much logic from never attending school.

With Meyer and Edith, Violet and Daisy moved their lives to become the “San Antonio Siamese Twins.”  They quickly started making $1,000 a week which grew to a whopping five thousand dollars per week in Vaudeville besides Charlie Chaplin and other household names.  They were royalty compared to their sideshow companions of the past, but there was something missing.  Where was the happiness, the friendships and the money? Through toss and tumble they found freedom at age 22 where they experienced a year of firsts: first kisses, first drinks, first smokes, first parties, first shows, first boyfriends.   For Daisy and Violet this would be not first and most unfortunately not last load of men who exploit them and reap all the profits.

Their lives took a turn through a publicity stunt marriage with Violet and a flamboyantly gay man and a pregnant Daisy.  The marriage was never consummated, they were divorced and the baby was given up for adoption. The great act of being conjoined and yet carrying on many sexual relationships took magic, which they learned from their friend Harry Houdini.  He taught them to separate themselves mentally, which resulted in one of the girls resting or reading while the other got physical.  Their careers dwindled and they ventured into burlesque to be called ” The World’s Only Strip-Teasing Siamese Twins.”

Through failed movies and grocery store jobs Daisy and Violet died in poverty; Daisy died days before Violet, and they had the opportunity to be separated, Violet couldn’t live without Daisy.  There was never an autopsy done, but director Leslie Zemeckis said that the girls had been told by doctors that they could have successfully been separated.

This is a film where I felt completely captivated while viewing.  It might have had to do with sitting in the second row, but I like to think that this film has no dull aspect; a consistent bang-bang-bang of American royalty that has been unfortunately forgotten.

This film chronicles the life of this world renowned sister act that was Violet and Daisy Hilton,”The Brighton United Twins,” that disappeared into poverty as their present became a past.