MovieChat Forums > Les revenants (2013) Discussion > Did anyone else think Lena and Camille s...

Did anyone else think Lena and Camille switched places?

posted 11 years ago by JeopardyLeyton
36 replies | jump to latest

I thought that maybe on the day of the school trip Lena and Camille pretended to be each other, and that this was how Camille got to sleep with Frederic. In that scene, Lena says to him'I could be Camille, you wouldn't be able to tell us apart' and then he says that he's in love with Lena. Then towards the end of the season Frederic and Camille have an interaction where they say they were so in love with each other, and it seems as though Frederic has come to a realisation about something about her- it wasLena he was in love with, so why did he then admit to being in love with Camille unless he realised she was actually Lena. I just wondered if they'd switched places, and this is partly why Lena is so guilty and messed up, because she'a actually Camille but can't admit it to anyone, and feels as though she should be the one who died. I also wondered if that was what the fight with her Dad might have been about - that he found out and was angry but they didn't tell Claire to protect her from going through the feeling of loss all over again for her other daughter. But this might be a stupid idea, I just kept expecting this to be revealed!

[–] czarina-attrition 11 years ago

I have wondered about this too. I've theorized the same thing that you'd written. It is possible that they switched places, espcially since Camille didn't want to go on the field trip and the other planned to stay home to be the boyfriend.

It would explain several things, especially why "Camille" panicked when she sensed "Lena" and Frederic making love. She knew what was happening and that is why she wanted to get off the bus. Now, I am not sure if the one sister knew that the other would sleep with Frederic, but the reaction on the bus made me think not. I think the father hit "Lena" because he didscovered the truth.

I was hoping in a way they didn't switch places, because that would be a little cliche, but it does add a bit more complexity to the characters and explain their motivations and behaviors.

I hope that the reveal, if this is indeed the case, will be done creatively with a little more surpise to it so that it doesn't come off as formulaic.

[–] LetheL 11 years ago

You got it in one! And it WAS revealed - when Camille said to Frederic "Don't tell anyone." And yes, imagine having switched identities with your twin for a night on a whim, and then having to actually live the rest of your life as your sister!

Lethe

[–] JeopardyLeyton 11 years ago

I also remembered that when they showed Lena and Frederic in bed together on the day of the accident, after she says to him 'I could be Camille and you wouldn't know', it cuts to Camille on the bus, and a teacher has to say 'Camille' to her several times before she turns around, which is what initially made me think they had swapped.

[–] dpfrz544 11 years ago

Camille had ear buds in.

[–] photondancer 11 years ago

Why would the survivor bother keeping up the pretence?

Seriously, think about it. You're told that 'you' have just died in a horrific accident - wouldn't your first impulse be to blurt out that actually, it was the other one who died? Even if it wasn't, the sheer enormity of the calamity would make any reason for keeping up the pretence seem futile and trivial. The survivor would confess, either of her own will or because the parents have figured it out. Parents can always tell identical twins apart.

[–] alissende 11 years ago

Camille was referring to the fact she was pretending to be cousin Alice, not to the fact that she was actually Lena.

When Simon first meets the older twin at the Lake Pub, she says something along the lines of "don't I know you?" At the start of ep2, you see one of the twins playing with the drum kit, and she is called back by her father who calls her 'Lena'. So unless they made a habit of switching back and forth, they are who they are supposed to be.

[–] lydiaann27 11 years ago

I think that the reason Lena feels so guilty is that she was supposed to be on the bus, too. But she played sick so that she could stay behind and sleep with Frederic. And both sisters were in love with him, so naturally Camille was upset when she "felt" Lena having sec with him.
When Camille first comes back she is disoriented and confused, but continues to ask for Lena. That is one of the one thing that she is very adimate about. I would think that if she was actually Lena she wouldn't have remembered enough to keep up the act.

[–] billnadsley 11 years ago

When Camille first comes back she is disoriented and confused, but continues to ask for Lena. That is one of the one thing that she is very adimate about. I would think that if she was actually Lena she wouldn't have remembered enough to keep up the act.

I respectfully disagree - "Camille" thought this was still the same day when she got home the first time, and she actually wasn't all that disoriented, until she saw her sister later. Before "Lena" got home, "Camille" would have just kept up the charade, so as to not get in trouble for switching places.

[–] lydiaann27 11 years ago

I went back and re-watched that episode, and I agree with you. The first time around I think that I was picking up the vibes from the family. I still don't think that they switched places, but I do agree with the disoriented part.
The only reason why I don't think that they switched is the love triangle with Fredric.

[–] cassidyb1983 11 years ago

I get that impression yes.

[–] billnadsley 11 years ago

There's another telling reference, in a rewatch of the show...

In the second episode "Lena" comes downstairs, and is upset, asking her family if they're going to act like everything is normal. She also says, "What if it's not her?"

Within this conversation, "Lena" also says, "People sometimes do pose as others." "Lena" and "Camille" are also looking mildly suspiciously at each other throughout the conversation.

[–] johnhelv 11 years ago

I don't for a second believe that Claire could not tell Lena and Camille apart. 15 year old Frederic seemed more like he was taking the opportunity to have sex with the twin that was willing to have sex than actually being in love with 15 year old Lena. Lena's behavior at 19 also does not seem consistent with a person carrying around a huge secret, she is angry at the world not depressed. She is guilty because she faked being sick so she got get in on with Frederic behind her sisters back. The fight with the dad was almost certain over him bleeping Lucy, and Lena feeling that her father abandoned her. Also when Lena rejects Camille, why would Camille keep quiet about having switched places?

[–] alissende 11 years ago

Also, why would the twins need to lie to their parents. Frederic snuck into the house, so it wasn't as if Claire was going to say 'Camille is waiting for you, go right up'.

Plus, if the girls had swapped to trick Frederic, the one on the bus would've known what they were going to get up and not freaked out the way she did.

[–] viciousbyrne 11 years ago

I did think the girls switched places, right as the sex scene was happening, I was like ruh roh.

There's a quote on Lena's door that reads:
C'est que tu ne suis pas ta propre vie, mais celle d'un autre
You don't follow your own life, but that of another.

On the other hand, I was thinking it would be stupid and pointless to continue the charade after a death, but this is fiction, who knows. There's something funny between Camille and Lena certainly, why is it when either touches Frederic the other knows, and why does Lena start to rot before Camille does? Or was it *really* a keloid?

[–] 11 years ago

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