Give Me Your Hand [Donne-moi la main] *** (2008, Alexandre Carril, Victor Carril, Anaïs Demoustier) – Classic Movie Review 13,581

Alexandre Carril and Victor Carril star as brawling 18-year-old identical twin brothers, who hitchhike from their dad’s bakery in France to Spain for the funeral of their mother they have never met.

‘What’s it like to have a twin?’

Alexandre Carril and Victor Carril star as brawling 18-year-old identical twin brothers, one kind of gay and the other straight, who hitchhike from their dad’s boulangerie (bakery) in France to Spain for the funeral of their mother whom they have never met. The journey changes their lives forever, but probably not as they would have imagined.

Writer/ director Pascal-Alex Vincent’s 2008 French-German drama film might not be quite as you would have imagined either. Give Me Your Hand [Donne-moi la main] is a beautiful, imaginatively filmed road trip with some great sequences, with some real surprises and with some threats on the way to a quite spectacular ending.

Gas station attendant Clémentine (Anaïs Demoustier) quits her job on a whim and has sex with Quentin (Victor Carril) on a mattress in the back of a Volkswagen van, making Antoine (Alexandre Carril) so jealous that he starts a fistfight with his brother, and then has sex himself with the girl, who leaves abruptly in the morning. Is Clémentine one of the threats? She probably is. Anyway, the brothers see her off, but they carry on brawling.

As intended, all eyes on the fascinating twins, very well played by Alexandre Carril and Victor Carril. The cute hand-drawn Japanese-style animation at the start tells you pretty well all you need to know about the battling twins. Is this a love story, or what?

Director: Pascal-Alex Vincent.

Writers: Pascal-Alex Vincent (story), Pascal-Alex Vincent, Olivier Nicklaus, Martin Drouot (screenplay).

Stars: Alexandre Carril, Victor Carril, Anaïs Demoustier, Samir Harrag, Fernando Ramallo .

The soundtrack is by electronic/ post rock band Tarwater.

Pascal-Alex Vincent heard about adolescent twins who liked street brawling in the historic aristocratic Paris district of Marais and first cast them in a short film called Bébé Requin, which became the screenplay for Donne-moi la main.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,581

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