Film
The Sheep Has Five Legs
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
A French comedy where one actor plays six roles—a mayor and his five quintuplet sons—in a farce about family reunion and small-town ambition. Fernandel's vaudeville energy powers a film that delights in physical comedy, quick changes, and the sheer audacity of the conceit. It's playful, unpretentious entertainment, perfect for anyone who loves old-fashioned comic invention.
If you liked this
Kind Hearts and Coronets1949
Alec Guinness plays eight roles in this darkly witty British comedy about murder and inheritance. Like Fernandel's film, it revels in an actor's ability to vanish into multiple skins, but adds genuine malice and class commentary beneath the laughs.
But It's considerably darker and more cynical than The Sheep Has Five Legs—the humour has teeth, which some find less warm and comforting.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World1963
A massive ensemble comedy chase film where dozens of comedians collide in escalating chaos. It has the same joyful commitment to elaborate sight gags and physical comedy that drives Fernandel's film, just with a bigger canvas.
But Three-and-a-half hours long and sometimes feels like it's trying too hard. The pacing can drag between set pieces.
The Kid1921
Chaplin and a child actor in a tender comedy about love and survival. Like Fernandel's film, it trusts physical comedy to carry emotional weight, and finds genuine pathos in absurdity without ever becoming sentimental.
But It's silent, which demands patience from modern viewers. The tonal shifts between comedy and melodrama can feel jarring if you're not expecting them.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Sheep Has Five Legs
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Seven Year Itch1955
Both are 1950s comedies about men navigating domestic life and desire, built entirely on an actor's charisma and the assumption that watching a skilled performer navigate increasingly absurd situations is enough.
Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell in a lightweight sex comedy about middle-class temptation. Like Fernandel's film, it's unapologetically frothy and committed to the surface pleasures of performance—but it's American, in colour, and a year later, making it a time-machine pair.
But The sexual politics are extremely dated, even for 1955. The premise depends on treating women as objects and men's infidelity as cute.
More like this (8)
Singin' in the Rain1952
Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in a musical comedy about early Hollywood. It shares Fernandel's film's pleasure in performance—the joy of watching skilled entertainers enjoying their own virtuosity—and does it with infectious charm.
But The gender politics are pretty dated. If broad MGM sentimentality annoys you, the romantic subplot will wear thin.
The Pink Panther1963
Peter Sellers as an accident-prone inspector investigating a jewel heist. His character's bumbling physicality and the film's deadpan humour create a different flavour of European comedy, equally committed to character and gag.
But The plot is thin and largely a framework for bits. If you need story momentum, you'll find it repetitive.
PlayTime1967
Jacques Tati's immersive, visually intricate comedy set in a modern Paris. Like Fernandel, Tati builds his entire film around physical comedy and human absurdity, but with meticulous, architectural precision.
But Nearly three hours long, largely dialogue-free, and deliberately paced. It requires active watching and rewards patience most people don't have.
Grand Illusion1937
A French masterpiece about class, nationality, and humanity during wartime. It shows French cinema at its most elegant and humanistic—a very different mode from Fernandel's film, but from the same creative culture.
But It's a war film, not a comedy, and demands emotional engagement with tragedy. The slow, deliberate pacing will alienate anyone wanting entertainment over substance.
Groundhog Day1993
Bill Murray caught in a time loop, forced to perfect his performance as a small-town man. It shares Fernandel's interest in a man playing multiple versions of himself, though filtered through existential comedy rather than vaudeville.
But It's fundamentally sentimental in ways that undercut the premise. Some viewers find the romantic resolution saccharine.
A Serious Man2009
The Coen Brothers' absurdist comedy about a man's life spiralling into chaos. It's rooted in Jewish-American culture rather than French farce, but shares Fernandel's interest in an ordinary man battling circumstances beyond his control through sheer force of will.
But It's bleak and deliberately frustrating, offering no comfort or resolution. The humour is existential rather than warm.
The 400 Blows1959
Both capture French life and psychology of their era, but Truffaut offers the unflinching view of what Fernandel's comedy leaves untouched.
Truffaut's semi-autobiographical film about a troubled boy in Paris. It's serious where Fernandel is comic, but it's French cinema from the same era, set in similar streets, and shares an eye for how class, family, and individual temperament collide.
But It's a drama about childhood suffering and institutional failure, not entertainment. The melancholy will unsettle anyone expecting lightness.
8½1963
Both explore the pleasure and anxiety of a man performing multiple selves, but where Fernandel finds joy in the multiplication, Fellini finds existential dread.
Fellini's masterpiece about a director unable to finish his film, played by Marcello Mastroianni. It's surreal, self-aware, and fascinated by performance and identity—the same themes as Fernandel, but refracted through Italian neorealism and existential crisis rather than farce.
But It's deliberately fragmented and obscure, asking questions without answering them. If you want clarity or narrative, you'll be frustrated.
People
Cast
FernandelEdouard de Saint-Forget
Françoise ArnoulMarianne Durand-Perrin
AndrexUn marin
Georges ChamaratM. Durand-Perrin
Édouard DelmontLe docteur Marius Bollène
Paulette DubostSolange Saint-Forget
Louis de FunèsPilate
René GéninLe maire
Noël RoquevertRoland Brissard
Denise GreyMme Durand-Perrin
Darío MorenoLe joueur américain
Edmond ArdissonLe brigadier
Directing
- Henri VerneuilDirector
Writing
- Jean ManseWriter