Two Timid Souls

Director René Clair’s last silent feature, adapted from another Eugène Labiche play, is one his finest comic adventures. Young lawyer Fremissin (Pierre Batcheff) must overcome his debilitating meekness in order to win the hand of the beautiful Cecile (Véra Flory), who has been betrothed against her will to the bestial Garadoux (Jim Gérald), his former legal client. As Fremissin finds the courage to confront his loutish rival, a series of misunderstandings transforms the tense love triangle into a madcap farce, with Clair employing a panoply of devices—such as split screens, reverse motion, and tableaux vivants—to ingenious, hilarious effect. An homage to the slapstick successes of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, as well as a final burst of pure visual invention before he switched to sound, TWO TIMID SOULS is Clair at his sweetest and most anarchic.