Toto le héros (1991)

Director:

Jaco van Dormael

Writers:

Didier De Neck (collaborator)
Pascal Lonhay (collaborator)

Release Date:

19 June 1991 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Thomas and Alfred were born around the same time; a fire in the nursery had nurses scrambling to save the newborns...

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Jealousy | Childhood Fantasy | Love Triangle | Surrealism

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 15 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Michel Bouquet	...	Thomas, as an old man
Jo De Backer	...	Thomas, as an adult
Thomas Godet	...	Thomas, as a child
Gisela Uhlen	...	Evelyne as an old woman
Mireille Perrier	...	Evelyne as young woman
Sandrine Blancke	...	Alice
Peter Böhlke	...	Alfred as an old man
Didier Ferney	...	Alfred, as an adult
Hugo Harold Harrison	...	Alfred, as a child
Fabienne Loriaux	...	Thomas' Mother
Klaus Schindler	...	Thomas' Father
Pascal Duquenne	...	Celestin, as an adult
Karim Moussati	...	Celestin, as a child
Didier De Neck	...	Mr. Kant
Christine Smeysters	...	Mrs. Kant

Also Known As:

Totò the Hero
Toto der Held (Germany)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

France | Belgium | Germany

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Baasrode, Dendermonde, Flanders, Belgium

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

As some of the locations were rather remote (particularly the unguarded railway crossing at Sint Amands), much of the technical crew and equipment was carried on the train.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#10.2)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Boum

Excellent movie about the extraordinary life of an ordinary man.

Take a deep breath... and dive... The movie is about to take you in a journey trough an extraordinary life... Not very overwhelming, one might say... but the story of "Toto le héros" is an unpredictable tale about a man who always thought he was nobody, and found at the very end of his life, that he was, in fact, a hero...

The very simple storyline is a sketch, for director Jaco Van Dormael, to elaborate a complex visual narration. Since we follow the main character, Toto, throughout his whole life, the movie is full of "time games". Van Dormael uses flash-back and leap in time to get away from a simple linearity. The aproach to dreams is very similar to Terry Gilliam's that we've seen in "Brazil" and "12 Monkeys".

"Toto le héros" is a touching film that will please the movie critics as well as the common viewers.

It is a chef-d'oeuvre...