C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre (1962)
Directed by Jean Boyer

Film Review

On the face of it, C'est pas moi, c'est l'autre seems to be a bizarre exercise in self-parody - a lacklustre comedy which ropes in the popular humourist Fernand Raynaud in the hope that this will be enough to attract a large audience.  Without Raynaud's spirited contribution, the film would be a tedious, rather silly farce, typical of the kind of low brow comedy that entertained the masses in France in the late 1950s, early 1960s.  The value of this film is that it helps to preserve the memory of one of France's most talented, most loved comic performers.   Fernand Raynaud appeared in several other films comedies, including La Bande à papa (1956) and Auguste (1961).

Film Synopsis

A second rate music hall troupe is struggling to find an audience as it hobbles wearily from one provincial venue to another, like a dying animal waiting to be put out of its misery.  The troupe's manager Jean Duroc knows that things cannot go on like this, but without a new act to liven things up he knows he and his so-called artistes will soon be facing the final curtain.  As luck would have it, the troupe's singer, Monique Darzel, makes a discovery that could well change their fortunes for the better - a holidaymaker who is dead ringer for the popular French comedian Fernand Raynaud.  The man in question is in fact a modest civil servant named Antoine Gaspard.  Not only does Antoine look like the comedy genius, he even sounds and acts like him.  You might even think he was the man himself!  Seizing the opportunity to save his livelihood, Duroc persuades Antoine to go against his natural instincts and join the company.  Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that whilst Duroc's star attraction may look like Fernand Raynaud he has none of his talent - which is odd, because, unbeknown to Duroc and his jolly entourage, Antoine really is Raynaud...