The Twin (1984 film)

Last updated
The Twin
Le Jumeau.jpg
Film Poster
Directed by Yves Robert
Written by Donald Westlake (novel)
Élisabeth Rappeneau
Based onTwo Much by Donald E. Westlake
Produced byDanièle Delorme
Xavier Gelin
Yves Robert
Fideline Films
Les Productions de La Guéville
Starring Pierre Richard
Camilla More
Carey More
Narrated by Pierre Richard
CinematographyJean Harnois
Edited byPierre Gillette
Music by Vladimir Cosma
Distributed byAAA
Roissy Films
Release dates
October 10, 1984 (France)
December 19, 1985 (West Germany)
Running time
104 min
Country France
Language French

The Twin (French : Le jumeau) is a 1984 French comedy film directed by Yves Robert, starring Pierre Richard, Camilla More and Carey More. [1] Based on Donald Westlake's novel Two Much, the story involves an indebted Frenchman who meets a pair of beautiful and rich American twin sisters. Inventing a twin brother, he manages to marry both and live their opulent lifestyle.

Contents

Its American/Spanish remake Two Much , starring Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, was released in 1995.

Plot

Owner of a struggling business in Paris, Matthias Duval stakes all he has in a game of poker and loses. At a party he meets a beautiful young American, Liz, and they soon end up in bed. Next morning she says that she has a twin called Betty, to which he jokes that he has a twin called Mathieu. When he meets Betty, she says she must meet his brother. Creating a different persona as "Mathieu", he starts romancing Betty as well. What he does not know is that each sister must get married by the end of the year or she will lose her share of the fortune left by their parents. The lawyer in charge of the estate, Volpinex, warns Matthias to stay away from them.

Betty marries "Mathieu" secretly, and next morning as Matthias he decides he must break with Liz. She convinces him to get engaged to her by the promise of 4,000 dollars a month plus sexual freedom. Using the latter clause, in persona as Matthias he spends a night with Liz. She flies him to the US to marry him there. Matthias then leaves Liz to go on an imaginary business trip to Japan, while "Mathieu" joins his wife Betty and her lonely sister in an isolated seaside house they own,

When the twins are out one night, the lawyer Volpinex appears. He has solid evidence that there is only one Matthias, who has married bigamously to defraud the parents' estate. In a struggle, Volpinex is accidentally shot and a fire accidentally started. "Mathieu" disappears, learning from the radio that the police believe the charred corpse to be his and that Volpinex, who has disappeared, must be the murderer. Hastily returning from Japan, Matthias resumes relations with his wife Liz and comforts the bereaved Betty. In fact, the girls knew of his duplicity all along and are happy to live as a ménage à trois.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<i>Mulholland Drive</i> (film) 2001 film by David Lynch

Mulholland Drive is a 2001 surrealist neo-noir mystery film written and directed by David Lynch and starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Mark Pellegrino, and Robert Forster. It tells the story of an aspiring actress named Betty Elms (Watts), newly arrived in Los Angeles, who meets and befriends an amnesiac woman (Harring) recovering from a car accident. The story follows several other vignettes and characters, including a Hollywood film director (Theroux).

<i>Evelina</i> 1778 novel by Fanny Burney

Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World is a novel written by English author Fanny Burney and first published in 1778. Although published anonymously, its authorship was revealed by the poet George Huddesford in what Burney called a "vile poem".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liz Allan</span> Marvel Comics fictional character

Elizabeth "Liz" Allan, also known as Elizabeth Allan-Osborn and commonly misspelled as "Liz Allen", is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. In the character's earliest appearances, she was a popular girl at the high school Peter Parker attends. She has been a regular supporting character in the various Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Venom series in an on-and-off basis, and has ties to the Green Goblin and Molten Man. She is the wife of Harry Osborn, the mother of their son Normie Osborn, and the CEO of Alchemax. In the non-canonical Ultimate Marvel continuity, Liz is depicted as Firestar.

Betty Catroux is a Brazilian-born French former Chanel model, and fashion icon. She has been cited as a muse by both Yves Saint Laurent and Tom Ford.

Escrava Isaura is a 1976 Brazilian telenovela produced by TV Globo, originally broadcast between October 11, 1976 and February 5, 1977. Based on the 1865 novel of the same name by 19th century abolitionist writer Bernardo Guimarães, it tells the story of the struggles of Isaura, a mixed-race slave, to find happiness during the Brazilian Empire. It starred Lucélia Santos in the titular role and Rubens de Falco as slave owner Leôncio Almeida, the main antagonist. It was adapted by Gilberto Braga and directed by Herval Rossano and Milton Gonçalves, running 100 episodes.

Sweet Valley High is a series of young adult novels attributed to American author Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of ghostwriters to produce the series. The books chronicle the lives of identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, who live in the fictional Sweet Valley, California, a suburb near Los Angeles. The twins and their friends attend Sweet Valley High.

<i>Two Much</i> 1995 film

Two Much is a 1995 romantic screwball comedy film based on Donald Westlake's novel of the same name, and is also a remake of the 1984 French comedy film Le Jumeau, which was also based on Westlake's novel. Directed by Fernando Trueba, Two Much stars Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah and Danny Aiello. It was released in the United States by Touchstone Pictures. Lew Soloff performed music for the film.

Nero is an Italian-British-Spanish television film, part of the Imperium series; it was made film available on DVD as of November 2005 in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by EOS Entertainment and Lux Vide for RAI and Telecinco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biff Fowler</span> Fictional character from Emmerdale

Brian Ian Francis "Biff" Fowler is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale, played by Stuart Wade from 1994 until 1999. Wade reprised his role as Biff in 2005 in a one-off appearance for Seth Armstrong's funeral.

<i>Camilla Dickinson</i>

Camilla Dickinson is a 1951 novel by Madeleine L'Engle about the first romance of two teenagers from dysfunctional families in New York City. In 1965, it was republished in slightly different form under the title Camilla.

Camilla, subtitled A Picture of Youth, is a novel by Frances Burney, first published in 1796. Camilla deals with the matrimonial concerns of a group of young people: Camilla Tyrold and her sisters, the sweet tempered Lavinia and the smallpox scarred Eugenia, and their cousin, the beautiful Indiana Lynmere—and in particular, with the love affair between Camilla herself and her eligible suitor, Edgar Mandlebert. They have many hardships, however, caused by misunderstandings and mistakes, in the path of true love.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marissa Tasker</span> Soap opera character

Marissa Tasker is a fictional character on the soap opera, All My Children. She was portrayed by Brittany Allen from April 21, 2009, to December 21, 2010, and by Sarah Glendening from December 27, 2010, to September 23, 2011.

<i>Heartbeat</i> (1946 film) 1946 film

Heartbeat is a 1946 American romantic drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Ginger Rogers. It is a direct remake of the French romantic drama Battement de cœur, released in 1940.

<i>Echoes</i> (Steel novel) 2004 novel by Danielle Steel

Echoes is a novel by Danielle Steel, published by Random House in October 2004. The book is Steel's sixty-fourth novel.

A French Woman is a 1995 French drama film directed by Régis Wargnier.

<i>A Perfect Plan</i> 2012 French film

A Perfect Plan is a 2012 French action adventure comedy film directed by Pascal Chaumeil and starring Diane Kruger, Dany Boon, and Alice Pol. It is released as Fly Me to the Moon in Canada and Australia. Written by Laurent Zeitoun and Yoann Gromb, and based on a story by Philippe Mechelen, the film is about a woman in love who tries to break her family curse of every first marriage ending badly by dashing to the altar with a random stranger before marrying her boyfriend.

Camilla More and Carey More are English actresses who have starred in films and on television. They are identical twin sisters. They have starred together in some films and TV shows. The twins were born in London. They are known for their roles in the 1984 horror film Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter as Tina and Terri.

Three Seats for the 26th is a 1988 French romantic musical film, scripted and directed by Jacques Demy to music by Michel Legrand. Set in Marseille, it shows the singer and actor Yves Montand returning to the city where he grew up and looking up old friends, including his first love Mylène, who had been a prostitute and is now the wife of a jailed baron. The purpose of his visit is to rehearse a stage musical based on his life, where the female lead he falls in love with is Marion, the daughter Mylène had after they parted. It was Demy's last picture.

<i>Trouble</i> (2019 film) 2019 film

Trouble, also known as Dog Gone Trouble, is a 2019 computer-animated comedy family film, directed by Kevin Johnson, and starring Sean "Big Sean" Anderson, Pamela Adlon, and Lucy Hale. It was the final film role of Betty White before her death in 2021.

<i>Harrow the Ninth</i> 2020 science fantasy novel by Tamsyn Muir

Harrow the Ninth is a 2020 science fantasy novel by the New Zealand writer Tamsyn Muir. It is the second in Muir's Locked Tomb series, preceded by Gideon the Ninth (2019) and followed by Nona the Ninth (2022) and forthcoming Alecto the Ninth (2023).

References

  1. "The Twin". unifrance.org. Retrieved 13 May 2019.