Looking for examples of the Cyrano and/or Mistaken Identity plot...

September 10, 2007 9:55 PM

I'm doing some research--you can help by listing all stories (fiction or non-fiction, written or filmed) which are either based on the template of Cyrano de Bergerac (ie, one character using another to woo their love interest) or a mistaken identity/false identity (ie, someone is mistaken for or pretending to be someone or something they are not in order to get something denied their true self).

An example of Cyrano would be the film Roxanne; example of mistaken identity would be The Truth About Cats and Dogs or Hail the Conquering Hero. Note that in the mistaken identity scenario I'm only interested in examples where the character either a) instigates the misunderstanding or b) plays along with it ... and they're doing it to get something. So, for examples North by North West would not be a good example as the central character immediately denies being the person he's mistaken for.

Examples of real-life scenarios or news stories would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

posted by dobbs to Media & Arts (30 answers total)

Is not the mistaken identity scenario also known as a Cinderella story?
posted by Brian B. at 10:02 PM on September 10, 2007

Pillow Talk, with Rock Hudson and Doris Day, is a pretty classic example in film.


There are also a good number of real-life scenarios like this that stem from the internet, most notably that insane triangle with the fake marine and the murder that was on the front page a week or so ago.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 10:04 PM on September 10, 2007

The wikipedia entry on the play names a number of Cyrano de Bergerac derivatives.
posted by crinklebat at 10:10 PM on September 10, 2007

The Odyssey - after trying to get home for 10 years, Odysseus disguises himself as a Cretan, so as to not reveal his identity to the suitors wooing Penelope. Eventually he does reveal himself, much to the suitors dismay.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 10:13 PM on September 10, 2007

Don't forget the classic Brady Bunch episode where Greg plays Cyrano for Peter. Gosh, what could go wrong?
posted by GaelFC at 10:16 PM on September 10, 2007

In terms of the mistaken identity plot, there's the whole Martin Guerre story, which has been dramatised in film and on stage many times. There was a version called Sommersby, IIRC, with Richard Gere and Jodie Foster. Guy comes home from war, gets mistaken for local guy, and plays along because he falls in love with the guy's wife.
posted by web-goddess at 10:19 PM on September 10, 2007

Response by poster: Is not the mistaken identity scenario also known as a Cinderella story?

Not to my knowledge. I always thought "Cinderalla Story" referred to a "rags to riches" story.

Thanks for the answers thus far.
posted by dobbs at 10:21 PM on September 10, 2007

Thomas Hardy's short story "On the Western Circuit," with a woman in the Cyrano role.
posted by thomas j wise at 10:25 PM on September 10, 2007

Upon reading more about Martin Guerre, I also just learned about the Tichborne claimant, which has also been made into a film.
posted by web-goddess at 10:26 PM on September 10, 2007

You should definitely check out Prof. Wendy Doniger's book The Bedtrick, on just this subject.
posted by piers at 10:29 PM on September 10, 2007

I'm sorry, I should have said that The Bedtrick is only about mistaken identity in a romantic or sexual context.
posted by piers at 10:30 PM on September 10, 2007

There's an anime called "Sakura Diaries" which is sort of like your second choice. A guy pretends to have gotten into a particular college because a girl he's hot for is in that college, but he didn't actually make it.

(It's really awful, by the way. Barf city. I stopped watching it half way through the second episode because I realized I wanted the protagonist to be hit by a bus and to die slowly and painfully.)
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:39 PM on September 10, 2007

Response by poster: Again, thanks for answers so far.

Steven raises a good point:

I'm only looking for examples of things you recommend. I'd rather not waste time watching/reading something that merely uses the plot in question; it should do the scenario justice.
posted by dobbs at 10:44 PM on September 10, 2007

Cinderella adaptations. Maid in Manhattan fits your description, and although many see them in terms of rags to riches, it symbolizes the ideal of love and looking past the first impressions and social standards to find it.
posted by Brian B. at 10:53 PM on September 10, 2007

I don't know if history of violence applies, but, there.
posted by Industrial PhD at 11:00 PM on September 10, 2007

The last episode of My So-Called Life, obviously.
posted by pokeydonut at 11:26 PM on September 10, 2007

In Shakespeare In Love you've got Shakespeare impersonating Marlowe to fool the jealous fiancé of Viola, who herself impersonates a boy actor so she can play Romeo in Shakespeare's unfinished play. The Talented Mr. Ripley also showcases a mistaken identity, which reminds me of Single White Female, though there it's more of a plot point than a story in itself. The fairly stupid movie Just One of the Guys has a female high-school journalist go undercover as a boy at a rival school, where she falls in love blah-blah-blah. Same story in Never Been Kissed and (the high-school part, anyway) Jon Cryer's Hiding Out. Michael J. Fox pretends to be a New York executive in The Secret of My Success, when he's really just a smart-alec kid from Kansas or somewhere. There's Dave, where a Presidential impersonator is tapped to replace the real President, who has had a stroke. In de Palma's Femme Fatale, a woman assumes the identity of somebody she happens to look like in order to escape her old life as a criminal. David Schwimmer pretends he's a woman's dead son's best friend in order to stay close to Gwyneth Paltrow in The Pallbearer. Catch Me If You Can is chockablock with impersonation. Birthday Girl has Nicole Kidman as a Russian mail-order bride in England. Derailed has Jennifer Aniston as a well-to-do adulterer in Chicago. (Neither is what she seems: They're con artists.) Speaking of con artists, Matchstick Men has 'em workin' their mojo on each other.
posted by cgc373 at 11:35 PM on September 10, 2007

The first instance of OP's item b in film that comes to mind in these wee hours is of Gabrielle Glaister's [IMDB] roles in the Blackadder II [YouTube] and Blackadder Goes Forth [YouTube] series as "Bob" or "Driver Bob."
posted by bonobo at 1:24 AM on September 11, 2007

Upon review of the second link I posted in my prior reply, Hugh Laurie's [IMDB] "Georgina" fits the role of item b in the same gender-bender manner.

Aw, geez...Three's Company [loud YouTube mashup of Ritter antics] just came to mind, too.
posted by bonobo at 1:40 AM on September 11, 2007

Twelfth Night features the falling in love with the intermediary plot - to complicate matters the intermediary is a woman masquerading as a man who is love with the person she is the intermediary for. She continues with the deception as her boss considers him(her) his confidant.

Luckily her long lost twin brother turns up to replace him(her) as the object of the Lady's affections, leaving our heroine free to reveal herself and marry her boss.

All that and a running joke about men in yellow tights. Hurrah!

As for real life stories. Did you only want innocuous tricksters? There was a well publicised case in the UK a while back of a con man who pretended to be a spy in order to send his victims on bizarre missions whilst stealing their money.

A rather happier conman story: Frank Abagnale.
posted by Ness at 2:30 AM on September 11, 2007

Chuck. Barris.
posted by bonobo at 4:19 AM on September 11, 2007

Depending on how extreme you want the pretending to be, I feel like much Western drama from the Renaissance afterwards fits the bill. Even more Shakespeare beyond Twelfth Night (Hamlet, As You Like It, Cymbeline, probably more), Moliere's Tartuffe, Gogol's The Inspector General, Streetcar Named Desire, The Importance of Being Earnest, etc.
posted by HeroZero at 4:37 AM on September 11, 2007

If I'm not mistaken, The Truth About Cats and Dogs is also a Cyrano retelling.
posted by amtho at 5:08 AM on September 11, 2007

Richard Dreyfuss in Moon Over Parador
posted by spinturtle at 6:48 AM on September 11, 2007

Rossellini's Il Generale della Rovere
posted by matteo at 9:05 AM on September 11, 2007

Daniel Auteuil's character in Le Placard (The Closet) pretends to be gay in order to keep his job.
posted by ceri richard at 10:23 AM on September 11, 2007

The Importance of being Earnest? I'm not at all familiar with Cyrano de Bergerac, but from what I've read, TIOBE seems related. The book is excellent, and while I haven't seen the play, the did have blurbs of it in Spider Man 2. It seemed boring. But what do I know?
posted by niles at 5:22 PM on September 11, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks all!
posted by dobbs at 9:23 PM on September 11, 2007

Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare. This is full of Cyrano de Bergerac style and mistaken identity/false identity.

The main-plot and sub-plot involve two seperate couples, who, as single people, at various points in the story, are light-heartedly deceived by others into loving the other person. its a beautiful story, and really is all about nothing.
posted by DoleDrum at 1:51 AM on September 12, 2007

While You Were Sleeping, a sweet though not fabulous movie.
posted by purenitrous at 9:47 PM on September 13, 2007