Les Jumeaux de Brighton (1936)
Directed by Claude Heymann

Film Review

Based on a popular stage play of 1908 by Tristan Bernard, Les Jumeaux de Brighton gave Raimu a golden opportunity to flex his comedic muscles in a demanding triple role, playing identical twin broathers and their father in a classic French farce.  Supported by a distinguished cast that includes such likeable performers as Suzy Prim, Jean Tissier and Michel Simon, Raimu is at his comedic best, skilfully delineating his three characters as only an actor of his calibre could.  Much of the humour revolves around that old standby of French farce, mistaken identity, but the funniest gag is having the two twins sitting side-by-side in a van destined for the lunatic asylum.  It is hard to believe, but the writer who was tasked with adapting Bernard's lively play for the screen was Robert Bresson, who would later become one of France's most highly regarded films auteurs.  Not long before this, Bresson had had an equally improbably flirtation with knockabout comedy, directing the short Les Affaires publique (1934).  Watching Les Jumeaux de Brighton, a fairly routine but amiable comedy, you can't help seeing this most austere of filmmakers in a whole new light.

Film Synopsis

France, 1890.  Alfred Beaugérard could not be happier when his wife presents him with two identical twins.  His paternal joy is short-lived however, since his rich American uncle has made it quite clear to him that he will only inherit his fortune if he has just one son.  By having two sons, Alfred will have to forego a huge inheritance - something he is not prepared to do!  For this reason, he gives both his sons the same forename, Achilles, and has them brought up separately, each totally unaware of the other's existence.  One son grows up in America, to be an incredibly successful businessman, the other will stay in France to pursue his own chosen career.

For almost half a century, the two Achilles are kept well apart, separated by the Atlantic Ocean, neither having the slightest reason to suspect he has a twin brother.  Then comes the fateful day when one of the brothers, the one raised in America, comes over to Paris to attend a trial.  Here he must fend off a claim form an heiress that she has a right to a large share of his multi-national shipping company.  By a curious turn of fate, the heiress's lawyer happens to be named Achilles.  Even odder that his surname should be Beaugérard!  When he meets his namesake, the business magnate is in for an even bigger shock...