Le Double de ma moitié (1999)
Directed by Yves Amoureux

Film Review

Le Double de ma moitié is the second of two films made for cinema by Yves Amoureux, a fairly obscure director who spent a larger proportion of his career working for television.  In a similar vein to his first film Le Beauf (1987), it is a zany comedy which takes a well-worn concept and reworks it into an enjoyably daft piece of lowbrow entertainment.  The use of doubles in comedy is hardly avant-garde but Amoureux and his screenwriter Paul Berthier give the basic premise a good run for its money, assisted by a likeable triumvirate of lead actors that comprises Bernard Giraudeau, Zabou Breitman and Marc Lavoine, all at their comedic best.

Any film featuring the multi-talented Zabou (the actress's preferred name at the time) is worth seeing, so any film in which she appears twice has to be pretty darned unmissable (if you'll forgive the Americanism).  Although she would later gain distinction as a film director, with such intelligent and engaging films as Se souvenir des belles choses (2001) and Je l'aimais (2009), it is worth reminding ourselves that she was (and still is) an accomplished actress, excelling in both dramatic and comedic roles.  Le Double de ma moitié looks as if it may well have been written for her in mind, so perfectly does she fit the two main characters and so easily does she extract the maximum comedy mileage from the nougats of old-fashioned farce that come her way.  Playing twin sisters and giving them separate identities is not the easiest of tasks but Zabou pulls it off magnificently.

Likewise, Bernard Giraudeau is better known as a straight dramatic actor, often called upon to play sinister characters with a touch of the perverse in his later years.  Here he reminds us just how well he could play comedy whilst, at the same time, turning in a credible character portrayal.  The big surprise is Marc Lavoine, the popular singer who turned actor in the mid-1980s - it is hard to think of another film in which he gives so much entertainment value.  Lavoine isn't just funny, there is also a touch of Shakespearean tragedy about him as his character falls foul of his rival's cruel machinations, to be ultimately driven insane by an imaginary mosquito.  On balance, the pace of the film is a little too uneven and the plot just a little too predictable for it to rank as a classic, but thanks to the spirited contributions from its lead actors it packs in plenty of laughs (especially in its evil Pygmalion send-up) and reaches parts that most mainstream comedies which resort to below-the-belt horseplay cannot reach.

Film Synopsis

In Paris, Thierry Monttino manages a successful fashion house with his wife Cécile.  When he discovers that his wife has been having an affair with Jérôme Quantas, one of their associates, and is planning to sell their company behind his back to a group of financiers Thierry is devastated.  He is on the point of killing himself when fate throws at his feet Cécile's twin sister Suzy.  The latter, a fairground worker with a strong Marseille accent, has recently arrived in the capital after a violent falling out with her boyfriend.  Noticing the striking resemblance between the two sisters, Thierry offers Suzy a large sum of money if she will agree to impersonate Cécile.  He has a cunning plan...