The Twin (Le jumeau in French) is a 1984 French comedy film directed and written by Yves Robert.
It is a satirical bedroom farce starring Pierre Richard and identical twin actresses, Camilla More and Carey More. Richard is Matthias Duval, a Lovable Rogue who runs a postcard business struggling so much that he can't pay his creditors. He does however supplement his lifestyle by mooching off his rich friend Ralph, and having regular sex with Ralph's wife Marie whenever Ralph is away.
Matthias is in fact lounging around at Ralph's house in Nice when he meets a stunning and fabulously wealthy American woman, Liz Kerner (Carey More) at Ralph's party. Despite the fact that she is way out of his league they go to bed together. He is still in post-coital bliss when Liz happens to mention that she has an identical twin sister, Betty (Camilla More). Without even thinking about it, Matthias blurts out that that he has an identical twin brother, as well, named "Matthieu." As he admits to the camera, he's always fantasized about sex with twins, and this will be the next best thing.
Unbelievably, it works. Matthias combs his hair more neatly and starts wearing glasses (usually he wears contacts) when assuming the guise of the fictional "Matthieu". He meets Betty in his Matthieu disguise and starts dating her, while still dating Liz under his real name. He goes to further and further lengths to keep the twins from finding out the truth. But it turns out that the twins have their own secret. And there's also the matter of Ernest Volpinex, Liz's evil lawyer, who would like to marry her himself and is highly suspicious of Matthias/"Matthieu".
Based on a Donald Westlake novel, Two Much! The source novel was later adapted into an American film starring Antonio Banderas called Two Much.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: Donald Westlake's novel has a downbeat ending in which the protagonist winds up rich but in an unhappy marriage with one of the twins, having refused a chance at true love with a third character named Linda who was Adapted Out of this film. In this movie, Matthias gets to live Happily Ever After in a three-way marriage with both gorgeous twins.
- Answer Cut: Betty asks "Matthieu" what his favorite color is. Matthias answers "Red. Why?" Cut to the two of them zipping up to Liz and Betty's beach house, in a snazzy red sports car.
- Babies Ever After: The end credits play over a series of still photos that show Matthias, Liz, and Betty living together in a three-way marriage, with both women getting pregnant and birthing a lot of children. Including three sets of twins.
- Bathtub Scene: Betty is lounging in the bath, covered in bubbles, when "Matthieu" calls.
- Blind Without 'Em: Inverted for a case of Blind With 'Em. Matthias runs into Betty, who, thinking he is "Matthieu", gives him his glasses. Unfortunately he still has his contacts in. Wearing contacts and glasses at the same time causes him to run into a wall.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Most of Matthias's commentary comes in the form of Character Narrator. But when Liz mentions she has a twin sister and he blurts out that he has a twin brother (he doesn't), he looks at the camera and says "Why did I say that?"
- Brief Accent Imitation: Matthias briefly mocks Liz's French and the American accent that comes with it, but only the once, probably because she actually is fluent in French while he speaks hardly any English.
- Clark Kenting: Justified. All Matthias does when pretending to be Matthieu is to comb his hair back, put on glasses, and adapt a slightly more serious manner. But of course, he's supposed to be an identical twin, so the sisters buy it.
- Coincidental Broadcast: Matthias founds out about the aftermath of Volpinex's death—in which the police conclude that the charred corpse in the house is Matthieu Duval and that Volpinex is a murderer on the run—by turning on a radio which naturally is reporting on his case.
- Coordinated Clothes: Liz and Betty don't always do this, but they do sometimes, like when they are wearing matching dresses to the big party where Matthias first meets Betty.
- Dies Wide Open: Volpinex, staring sightlessly after tumbling down the stairs with a bullet in his chest.
- Door Slam of Rage: Betty, who has fallen in love with "Matthieu", confronts Matthias and accuses him of ruining her marriage by telling Matthieu about the inheritance. Then she stalks out of his office and slams the door so hard the glass shatters.
- Dramatic Irony: Various comments that the real twins make to Matthias/Matthieu, like when Betty says to "Matthieu" that "You don't look very like your brother."
- The Dying Walk: Volpinex has gotten shot in the chest after a Gun Struggle with Matthias. Matthias, thinking Volpinex dead, has gone downstairs. He then sees Volpinex, on his feet at the top of the stairs, holding the gun. Volpinex fires off three shots at Matthias, missing three times, before he tumbles down the stairs, dead for real.
- Fake Twin Gambit: The central premise, as Matthias invents an identical twin, "Matthieu", so he can have sex with both Liz and Betty.
- A Glass in the Hand: In an early scene Volpinex sees Liz canoodling with Matthias at the pool. The wine glass he's holding shatters in his hand.
- Gold Digger: At first Matthias is in it just for the sex, but when Betty asks to marry "Matthieu" he sees a life of luxury in the offing. So he gets a fake ID as Matthieu and marries Betty, resolving to break up with Liz and just live as "Matthieu" forever. He doesn't count on Liz asking Matthias to marry her too.
- Gun Struggle: Volpinex has a gun. Matthias tries to escape. They wind up struggling, and Volpinex gets shot.
- Holding Both Sides of the Conversation: Matthias more than once has to fake having a phone conversation with his "twin" when in the company of either Liz or Betty.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: Well, for a fake identical twin. But in disguise as "Matthieu", Matthias combs his hair more neatly and wears glasses.
- Identical Twin Mistake: Matthias is continually doing this, mistaking one twin for the other.
- Maintain the Lie: Matthias goes to increasingly frantic, elaborate efforts to hide his secret from the twins. In one scene where he realizes that both sisters are in the mansion in different bedrooms, he dashes frantically back and forth, taking his glasses on and off and changing his shirt every time as he runs between bedrooms. He fakes a trip to Japan by going to the airport and giving a complete stranger a letter addressed to Betty to mail, just so it will have a Japanese postmark.
- On One Condition: At one point Matthias marvels at his Kavorka Man situation, wondering why two hot blondes are so desperate to not just have sex with him, but actually marry him. He finally finds out the truth, that per the will, each sister must marry before the year is out to obtain their 45% share of the inheritance—and whoever marries first will be able to buy out an uncle's 10% share and control the entire Kerner business empire.
- Polyamory: The happy ending. Liz falls in love with Matthias. Betty falls in love with "Matthieu". Eventually the twins find out the truth, but after all, they are Single-Minded Twins. So they decide to both live with him in a permanent threesome.
- Pool Scene:
- Matthias meets Liz at his friend Ralph's house, where Ralph is hosting a bunch of people at his pool, apparently just because he's rich. They're all gorgeous and one woman can be seen sunbathing topless, because it's France.
- There's another pool scene at the twins' mansion later which is basically just an excuse to show Liz and Betty in swimsuits.
- The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction: Matthias, while thoroughly enjoying bouncing back and forth between stunning twins, wonders why two gorgeous are both after him. Eventually he discovers that the sisters each have to get married before the end of the year to claim their inheritance and whoever does first will likely control their whole family business.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Both Liz and Betty wear backless dresses pretty much every time they dress up.
- Single-Minded Twins: Liz and Betty look exactly alike, often (but not always) wear matching outfits, sometimes Speak in Unison, generally have the same personality, and both fall in love with Matthias/"Matthieu". They even have the same name—bizarrely, their parents named Liz "Elizabeth" with a Z and Betty "Elisabeth" with an S.
- Speak in Unison: The twins do this on occasion, like when they speak as unison as they tell Matthias that they are selling their Nice mansion to a loudmouthed American. Towards the end, Matthias asks what's going on between them, and they say "the end of a stupid quarrel" in unison in English. Then for his benefit they say it again, in French, again in unison.
- Split-Screen Phone Call:
- A split screen for when Ralph calls Matthias just so Matthias can pretend that he's speaking with Matthieu. When Ralph figures out that his friend is up to something he walks away cackling with laughter, as Matthias continues to talk to no one.
- Near the end the twins call Matthias in a split screen phone call and tell him to come over. The camera on the right side then zooms out to reveal that they are holding a copy of Volpinex's "CONFIDENTIAL" file and now know Matthias's secret.
- Toplessness from the Back: Liz when she gets up out of bed after sex with Matthias.
- Twin Switch: The twins do this with Matthias at the end, just to mess with him, having found out his secret. They go through a whole evening switching between outfits and pretending to be each other as they seduce him.
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: When Liz tells Matthias she has a twin sister, Matthias in his narration says "she hooked me with that." He admits that this has always been a fantasy of his, so he invents the fake Matthieu so he can date both twins at once, figuring that to be the next best thing. When Liz and Betty find out the truth about what Matthias has been up to, they react by—giving him that twin threesome fantasy, complete with posing on the bed in matching teddies when they finally reveal that they know his secret. That's the happy ending, as Matthias, Liz, and Betty live together in a three-way marriage.
- Two-Person Love Triangle: A very strange version of this, more like a three-person Love Square. In any case, Betty thinks she's cheating on her husband Matthieu when she has a fling with Matthias. This causes Matthias, who has very mixed feelings about it, to realize he loves Betty.Matthias: Tough cheating on yourself.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: At one point Matthias has to change his clothes in an elevator while switching identities, all while the other occupant in the elevator looks at him with astonishment.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: Matthias Can't Hold His Liquor. He wakes up hung over after a night with Betty and can't remember what happened. She tells him that not only did they have sex last night, they're now engaged to be married.