33 reviews
Grass is always greener at the neighbor's house
The first movie from Belgium director Jaco Van Dormael is pure magic. It's what cinema should always be.
I've just seen the movie, for the third time, on TV past midnight yesterday and I couldn't close my eyes. Why ? Because Van Dormael knows how to tell a story. Also, you become very attached to all the character, bad and good one.
The cinematography give you the impression that you are dreaming. The camera is so light and the colors are so bright so you know that the imagination of Thomas, the "Toto" from the title, is working very hard to remember exactly what happened in his childhood.
If you love a good story with a very interesting plot, this is the one.
I've just seen the movie, for the third time, on TV past midnight yesterday and I couldn't close my eyes. Why ? Because Van Dormael knows how to tell a story. Also, you become very attached to all the character, bad and good one.
The cinematography give you the impression that you are dreaming. The camera is so light and the colors are so bright so you know that the imagination of Thomas, the "Toto" from the title, is working very hard to remember exactly what happened in his childhood.
If you love a good story with a very interesting plot, this is the one.
- Cinemaquebecois
- Dec 7, 1998
- Permalink
Before Le Huitième Jour we had Toto Le Héros, another great movie from Jaco Van Dormael.
Although I'm from Belgium I don't consider myself as biased to review Toto Le Héros. Jaco Van Dormael is a great director and Toto Le Héros was his first movie that got international attention, and for a good reason. The story is about a man holding a lifetime grudge, his life is only focussed on his neighbors success which he can't get over it. It's a simple story that goes back an forth in the future, past and present, beautifully narrated by Michel Bouquet that has an enjoyable voice to listen to. The acting of the whole cast is on top, from the youngest to the eldest they all gave a very good performance. Jaco Van Dormael will later have another huge movie that was nominated for a Golden Globe, Le Huitième Jour, where he again gave the autistic actor Pascal Duquenne a chance to show he can act, only this time as the major character. Jaco Van Dormael doesn't make tons of movies, but he makes significant ones. Toto The Hero is one of the movies that put Belgium on the map for cinema. Good movie that will please most of his audience.
- deloudelouvain
- Nov 28, 2020
- Permalink
A charming view of ones memory of life's journey
For a film which goes from here to there and back and forth, it seems odd that it loses its way for a good 15-20 minutes.
There is a lot of appeal in a childlike view of the world. That we may be jolted back into "reality", does not diminish the charm. As the story unfolds, we are drawn into the life of a child/man or man/child. That matters not; it is fascinating - the way it is told.
Then, the tale seems to lose direction, and as interesting as the telling is, a wandering story line diminishes interest in the tale; and, it begins to drag.
The ending brings things back together again; and, but for a few aimless moments, we are brought back to a fascinating world of one person's imagination and reality.
There is a lot of appeal in a childlike view of the world. That we may be jolted back into "reality", does not diminish the charm. As the story unfolds, we are drawn into the life of a child/man or man/child. That matters not; it is fascinating - the way it is told.
Then, the tale seems to lose direction, and as interesting as the telling is, a wandering story line diminishes interest in the tale; and, it begins to drag.
The ending brings things back together again; and, but for a few aimless moments, we are brought back to a fascinating world of one person's imagination and reality.
- edchin2006
- Apr 30, 2010
- Permalink
The Genius of Small Things
Jaco van Dormael, I love you. When I first saw this film in a dilapidated arts cinema in Cambridge on a cold winter's night, I wasn't expecting much. The only review I'd read was mildly sniffy. It was French, it was about la condition humaine. I thought it'd be a reasonable way to pass a couple of hours.
When I emerged from that dark pit of a cinema, I felt, at least for a while, as if my eyesight had been transformed. As we walked back to my friend's flat, I became fixated on one thing after another - the rain upon the cobbles, the light on the church, the darkness of the sky - I felt about five years old all over again. Since then, this film has never been out of my top five. And probably never will.
That is not say it's perfect. It's message is perhaps a little too bleak for my liking, and it does indulge itself in the precept that life it utterly meaningless. But how the visuals of the film contradict that sentiment! Every shot filled with colour, with life, with imagination.
In a way, Toto is an old-fashioned film - a thriller in the Third Man/Citizen Kane mold - a complex story unfolding in a semi-linear fashion, in this case throughout one man's whole life. Dour realism this certainly ain't. A wonderfully naive 40s (?) style chanson reappears, as the adult 'Van Chickensoup' watches his dead father sing from the back of a truck in front of him. Flowers sway in time to the song. The child truly believes that his father met his mother by landing in the garden from a parachute. Scene after scene of joyful play follow each other.
But this is no art-house foppery. This is a tight, mean, well-constructed tale about the feeling that dogs us all - is this all life is? Could I have been happier as someone else? Are they happier than me? Am I lucky or unlucky? And most importantly, this: Why, when life seems so hard at times, can we find so much joy in small things, in a flower, or a kiss, or crazy weather, or new clothes?
Forget the French subtitles, a fact that seems to put off so many North American and British viewers, forget the 'art-house' tag. I own this film and have shown it to scores of friends, all of whom have walked away astonished at its vision. I assure you that you will love this film.
It's alright, you don't have to thank me, spreading the word is enough. ;-) Watch it today! And then watch the Eighth Day, Van Dormael's astonishing second feature.
When I emerged from that dark pit of a cinema, I felt, at least for a while, as if my eyesight had been transformed. As we walked back to my friend's flat, I became fixated on one thing after another - the rain upon the cobbles, the light on the church, the darkness of the sky - I felt about five years old all over again. Since then, this film has never been out of my top five. And probably never will.
That is not say it's perfect. It's message is perhaps a little too bleak for my liking, and it does indulge itself in the precept that life it utterly meaningless. But how the visuals of the film contradict that sentiment! Every shot filled with colour, with life, with imagination.
In a way, Toto is an old-fashioned film - a thriller in the Third Man/Citizen Kane mold - a complex story unfolding in a semi-linear fashion, in this case throughout one man's whole life. Dour realism this certainly ain't. A wonderfully naive 40s (?) style chanson reappears, as the adult 'Van Chickensoup' watches his dead father sing from the back of a truck in front of him. Flowers sway in time to the song. The child truly believes that his father met his mother by landing in the garden from a parachute. Scene after scene of joyful play follow each other.
But this is no art-house foppery. This is a tight, mean, well-constructed tale about the feeling that dogs us all - is this all life is? Could I have been happier as someone else? Are they happier than me? Am I lucky or unlucky? And most importantly, this: Why, when life seems so hard at times, can we find so much joy in small things, in a flower, or a kiss, or crazy weather, or new clothes?
Forget the French subtitles, a fact that seems to put off so many North American and British viewers, forget the 'art-house' tag. I own this film and have shown it to scores of friends, all of whom have walked away astonished at its vision. I assure you that you will love this film.
It's alright, you don't have to thank me, spreading the word is enough. ;-) Watch it today! And then watch the Eighth Day, Van Dormael's astonishing second feature.
- David Allison
- Aug 2, 2001
- Permalink
The Time it Was Yesterday at the Same Time
Ask me what time it is. Very very very strange and very entertaining bit of European cinema from Wacko Jaco Van Dormael, a former circus clown turned director. This film about fate, love, and childhood fantasies gone awry is very hard to describe. Imagine a kids film directed by Lars Von Trier, add a dash of "Amelie," a scent of "Donnie Darko," a sprinkle of Lynchian strangeness, and a good heaping of Terry Gilliam inspired wackiness, place in a blender, then travel back in time (as this movie came long before and probably inspired "Amelie" and "Donnie Darko") and voilà, you'll have "Toto." Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes funny (everybody seems to love those dancing tulips), sometimes weird, always captivating, this is a film for people who enjoy non-linear and creative story-telling. Also, that much talked about floating plastic bag stuff from "American Beauty" is taken straight from this film's unforgettable final scenes. Dormael seemed to have so much good stuff going on in this film, it's ashame he's only made one film since this, as any film buff who watches it will no doubt imagine a few more great films being pulled out of Dormael's magician's hat.
- WriterDave
- Feb 28, 2003
- Permalink
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...
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...
Hollywood ending?
"When Your Heart Goes Boom"
- aimless-46
- Nov 11, 2005
- Permalink
A cherished regret!
Toto le héros tells a nostalgic story about shortcoming and love in flashbacks, forwards and with a dash of surrealism. Moving fluidly back and forth in time and space, an embittered old man by the name of Toto, (Thomas Godett) reflecting on his life, contemplates the revenge of his bitter enemy, his lifetime adversary, the man who stole his existence. Thomas is the main character of Toto le héros, he is convinced that he was traded in error at birth with another baby, his neighbour Alfred Kant who is the existential thief of all things good. The film is divided into three times: Thomas as a child, as an adult and as an elderly person, told in a complex narrative by old Thomas, we get to see what would have been the alternative to his relatively boring life and how Alfred's happiness should actually be his, there is also a secret agent angle which is filmed presented so beautifully. This is a fascinating example of storytelling which is a mix of romance with mystery and I hesitate to go into much detail about the plot for fear of spoiling the surprise, but I will say this story stands distinctly apart from the linear narrative drab, predictable plots, and neat endings that we are so used to in American movies. An absolute must see, especially for classic film buffs.
Bitter-sweet and surreal
This movie is sheer visual poetry. Although it is in subtitles and I don't speak a lick of French, I found myself not needing to read the subtitles as the visuals told the entire story. This is rather impressive, as the story is very complicated. It tells the tale of one man's life by interweaving four different elements of his life: Childhood, Middle-Age, Old-Age, and a Film Noir Fantasy World. To give it even more of a chance of being confusing, these elements are not shown chronologically. However, "Toto..." is not confusing at all. It pulls off this complicated plot beautifully. This movie truly is a Modern Day Classic!! DVD? When? Criterion Edition!
A stolen life
A kind of naturalistic delight
Thomas is a bitter old man who feels he has been cheated out of the life that was rightly his because he and another boy were switched at birth during a fire at the hospital. Alfred, the other boy, lives a life of privilege and becomes rich. Thomas is jealous. But in another sense Thomas needs to believe that he was switched because he falls in love with his sister Alice. If he really was switched, they are not related.
This is just one of the ironic witticisms spun out by Jaco van Dormael, who wrote and directed this striking and totally original bit of life triumphant. Veteran French actor Michel Bouquet plays Thomas as an old man, sneaking cigarettes in the old folks home, reliving his memories, plotting his revenge. Jo De Backer plays Thomas as a slightly nerdish young man, consumed by the loss of his beloved sister in a fire when she was about eleven or twelve. One day by accident he spots a woman who reminds him of his sister. He follows her, they fall in love, and it turns out she is married to Alfred! Thomas Godet plays the little boy Thomas with charm and a touching vulnerability. He is picked on and bullied by Alfred and his friends who taunt him with, "van Chickensoup!" (I wonder if the French Academie approves of this vulgar Anglais.) Sandrine Blancke plays Thomas's cute and impish older sister. Mireille Perrier plays Evelyne, who is the woman who reminds Thomas of his sister.
In a sense this is a romantic comedy, but be warned that in the French cinema a hint of incest is seldom looked on as shocking, rather as something almost akin to nostalgia. And certainly every woman should have a lover and every man a mistress. In another sense this is an art film that plays with time, using both flashbacks and flash forwards to present a story filled with spooky coincidences, punctuated with fantasy and a kind of naturalistic glorification of life epitomized in the catchy tune, "Boom!" that weaves its way in and out of the story, a tune you might have trouble getting out of your head, so be forewarned. ("Boom! When your heart goes boom! It's love, love, love!" written and performed by Charles Trenet.) There is also as aspect of sentimentality, especially in the resolution, that provides a sweet contrast with the naturalistic pathos. When the words that Alice spoke as a child is reprised by Evelyne (although she could not have known what Alice had said) we are delighted, and Thomas is a little rattled.. ("Do you like my hands?" she asks, holding them up. "Which hand do you prefer?")
The bitter old man learns that he really had the better of it all along (and so he does somewhat the opposite of what he had intended) and indeed we in the audience realize that how we might feel about life, looking back on it, might really just depend on how we choose to feel about it. Dormael's message seems to be that love makes life worth living. We are left with the sense that there is a time for love, and that time passes, and we have to accept that and celebrate the memory.
Best scene: Ten-year-old Thomas sees his perhaps 11-year-old sister rising out of the bath tub. (We see only his widening eyes; this is a discreet movie.) He says, "I...didn't know you had breasts." She replies (deadpanning the pride of a pre-adolescence girl), "I thought you'd read about them in the newspapers."
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)
This is just one of the ironic witticisms spun out by Jaco van Dormael, who wrote and directed this striking and totally original bit of life triumphant. Veteran French actor Michel Bouquet plays Thomas as an old man, sneaking cigarettes in the old folks home, reliving his memories, plotting his revenge. Jo De Backer plays Thomas as a slightly nerdish young man, consumed by the loss of his beloved sister in a fire when she was about eleven or twelve. One day by accident he spots a woman who reminds him of his sister. He follows her, they fall in love, and it turns out she is married to Alfred! Thomas Godet plays the little boy Thomas with charm and a touching vulnerability. He is picked on and bullied by Alfred and his friends who taunt him with, "van Chickensoup!" (I wonder if the French Academie approves of this vulgar Anglais.) Sandrine Blancke plays Thomas's cute and impish older sister. Mireille Perrier plays Evelyne, who is the woman who reminds Thomas of his sister.
In a sense this is a romantic comedy, but be warned that in the French cinema a hint of incest is seldom looked on as shocking, rather as something almost akin to nostalgia. And certainly every woman should have a lover and every man a mistress. In another sense this is an art film that plays with time, using both flashbacks and flash forwards to present a story filled with spooky coincidences, punctuated with fantasy and a kind of naturalistic glorification of life epitomized in the catchy tune, "Boom!" that weaves its way in and out of the story, a tune you might have trouble getting out of your head, so be forewarned. ("Boom! When your heart goes boom! It's love, love, love!" written and performed by Charles Trenet.) There is also as aspect of sentimentality, especially in the resolution, that provides a sweet contrast with the naturalistic pathos. When the words that Alice spoke as a child is reprised by Evelyne (although she could not have known what Alice had said) we are delighted, and Thomas is a little rattled.. ("Do you like my hands?" she asks, holding them up. "Which hand do you prefer?")
The bitter old man learns that he really had the better of it all along (and so he does somewhat the opposite of what he had intended) and indeed we in the audience realize that how we might feel about life, looking back on it, might really just depend on how we choose to feel about it. Dormael's message seems to be that love makes life worth living. We are left with the sense that there is a time for love, and that time passes, and we have to accept that and celebrate the memory.
Best scene: Ten-year-old Thomas sees his perhaps 11-year-old sister rising out of the bath tub. (We see only his widening eyes; this is a discreet movie.) He says, "I...didn't know you had breasts." She replies (deadpanning the pride of a pre-adolescence girl), "I thought you'd read about them in the newspapers."
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)
- DennisLittrell
- Apr 6, 2002
- Permalink
Major letdown. I wanted to like it, I really did, but I just couldn't.
a clever brilliant movie
Thomas, an elderly man lives in an old people's home. He's always been persuaded that he has been inverted with another baby called Alfred, during a fire at the maternity hospital. It means that he should have been Alfred, a wealthy and rough boy, cherished by his parents who fell in love with Thomas' sister, Alice. When he's a grown-up, he'll become a brilliant businessman whereas Thomas, him, will only live a dull and mournful life: his father will die early, he'll become a poor surveyor and when he feels love for a woman called Evelyne who looks like his late sister, Alice, he'll feel betrayed because Evelyne is Alfred's wife! His only way to escape from a destiny that is not the right one is to fancy himself as a secret agent (Toto le héros). So, in the old people's home, Thomas's got a sole idea: killing the "usurpator". Will he succeed in? For his first film, Jaco Van Doarmel showed cleverness, originality and talent. The movie is very close to Etienne Chatiliez's movie: "life is a long quiet river" but in this movie, everybody knew that the two babies had been voluntarily inverted and in Doarmel's film, Thomas remains the only one to be persuaed of being inverted. One of the feats of the film is that it never asserts this hypothesis. We see the fire but we don't know if the intervertion really happened... The movie works like a puzzle as Thomas's thoughts and memories pass by and it links several characters, in different places, at different times. It enables to reconstruct Thomas' bitter life. In parallel, you never lose the thread of the plot (Thomas aims at avenging himself against the one who stole his life). The film abounds in visual brainwaves and is very well served by a watertight screenplay. Moreover, there's an amazing contrast between Thomas's bitter life and Alfred's one (which would be Thomas's real life) that is cherished and successful. But, in the end, Alfred isn't as dreadful as he seems, because I noticed that when he was old, he seemed upset. He's probably marked by Evelyne's departure and don't forget that he's tracked down by terrorists. Always right and agile, the movie, sometimes, succeeds in creating touching moments( when Thomas discovers that Thomas's wife is Evelyne, the woman he loves). At last, Michel Bouquet is excellent in his role of tormented and disillusioned man. Like "eraserhead" by David Lynch, in another register, "Toto le héros" rank among the movies that you must see rather than telling it because it can be seen on several levels.
- dbdumonteil
- Dec 29, 2002
- Permalink
In praise of the modernist aspects of Toto
Toto the Hero is one of those rare films that improves with each viewing (and you will want to watch it again and again) there are enough levels going on to satisfy the hardened movie deconstructionist but at the same time the story-telling is engagingly simple and seemingly naive. At the surface level a narrative of lost love, mistaken identity, family tragedy, life/death and tulips. Dig deeper and there is a complex reflexive subtext about language and subject identity that encompasses philosophy, psychoanalysis and the role of the media itself. Joyce, Levi Strauss, Freud and Lacan are cited alongside countless references to cinema and television. Watch the opening of Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard or read the first page of Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man after Toto and you may catch my drift. A truly superb piece of cinema that skillfully manages to avoid the post-modern posturing that condemns many of Van Dormael's contemporaries.
Don't miss it.
A most unusual cinematic treat. I happened on this film in the middle. I was so intrigued by it I scanned the TV guide for a month until I could see it from beginning to end.
There are more than many comments one can make on his own life. In this film we can make our own judgment on the life of Thomas the Hero. We know from the outset that he feels he has been cheated from his birthright. Can he regain what has been taken from him? Or has he been unable to comprehend the quality of his own life? These issues are dealt with in four stories told almost simultaneously.The resolution is at once redeeming and thought-provoking.
There are more than many comments one can make on his own life. In this film we can make our own judgment on the life of Thomas the Hero. We know from the outset that he feels he has been cheated from his birthright. Can he regain what has been taken from him? Or has he been unable to comprehend the quality of his own life? These issues are dealt with in four stories told almost simultaneously.The resolution is at once redeeming and thought-provoking.
best movie of the last decade
Without "ifs" and "buts": this is the best movie of the last decade. Made by most gifted filmmaker of the last decade. It s unique in its wealth of ideas and complex structure. Thank you, Jaco - also for your second feature "Eight Day".
A complex story deeply moving
I saw this film believing it to be comedy and less than halfway through felt deeply antagonistic to the director's idea of humour. A few minutes later, I realised my mistake and wept through the remainder of the film and again when I saw it next, and again! It is a story of a deeply flawed man with profoundly complex issues, some of which you can understand from his family history. As to whether he was switched at birth during a fire, or whether that was his way as a child of rationalising the inequalities between himself and his neighbour's child, that is open to question. His relationship with Evelyn and the way he identifies her with his dead sister, Alys, is a kind of idealisation. I am not entirely sure how much of the film is real and how much is wishful thinking on the part of Thomas. But whenever the theme music plays, the mood becomes both happy and sad.
- imogenwooder
- Apr 26, 2012
- Permalink
Worth buying!
If you loved this film, and most people do, please help get the word out that this movie should be released for Region 1 DVD (US). I was able to find this on Region 2 DVD on Amazon.fr (Amazon France) but it was out of stock. What to do when the movie you love is unavailable?!?
I also recommend getting yourself a Charles Trenet cd who's song "Boum!" is used for the dancing tulips. I believe that he was a traitor during Nazi occupation, siding with the puppet French government...but he did remake his name before his death.
And yes, what a pity this director hasn't made more films. What gives? If you like this film, you might also like The Hairdresser's Husband which came out around the same time.
I also recommend getting yourself a Charles Trenet cd who's song "Boum!" is used for the dancing tulips. I believe that he was a traitor during Nazi occupation, siding with the puppet French government...but he did remake his name before his death.
And yes, what a pity this director hasn't made more films. What gives? If you like this film, you might also like The Hairdresser's Husband which came out around the same time.
- davidgarvoille
- Aug 1, 2005
- Permalink
Kind of boring.
Those who liked this film will likely say that I do not understand European cinema, and I suppose they may be right. The production values were OK. I wasn't bothered by the non-linear timeline of the story. But the whole film, overall, bored me. Sorry, Eurocinephiles.
Don't take your eyes off the screen for even one second...
Jaco Van Dormael conjures up (he was a magician and a clown) one of those films that because of their formal beauty and intelligent content deserve to be seen more often but are not. The film is full of internal echoes, images that resurface under different contexts, and make you rethink them again and again (dare I say like in Citizen Kane?). As if that were not enough, there are many other resonances to genres and specific films that will make film buffs laugh with excitement: quotations to gangster films, to Hitchcock, to Bunuel, etc. are all there to be discovered and enjoyed. Alan Moore would be smiling at the construction of this beautiful crystal web that is the narrative of this film. See it and rejoice...
MAGIC
Perfect movie! Poetic with profound characters. It is more than a movie. It is magic. It is surreal, mad, complex and very human in a very weird way. Even if some characters and scenes are not realistic, I felt that every aspect of life is included. You cannot describe what you saw, only what you felt.
- konstantinanikolaou
- Feb 14, 2022
- Permalink
Superior Film-making-Ethereal Messages
This is one of those rare films that can be enjoyed or appreciated on many levels separately, or all at once. The point is that it is very enjoyable at whatever level you take it.
For me, it is a profoundly moving film. It combines the comedy and frivolousness of the best of French film, with the most poignant and touching tragedy. The title provides much of the fodder for thought. Toto (what does that name mean?) the Hero. (Hero?) What kind of hero? Do you admire his heroism? Is it misplaced? Is it an act of self-sacrifice or...something else... What is a "hero"? Do we need them? Why? And where do they come from, what causes one man, a seemingly ordinary man, to perform an heroic act? Is he all of us? Is this potential inside us all? Delight in the asking of these questions, then delight in answering , some of them, one of them....none of them. This film is a fable, with all the potential whimsy and ambiguity therein.
Enjoy.
For me, it is a profoundly moving film. It combines the comedy and frivolousness of the best of French film, with the most poignant and touching tragedy. The title provides much of the fodder for thought. Toto (what does that name mean?) the Hero. (Hero?) What kind of hero? Do you admire his heroism? Is it misplaced? Is it an act of self-sacrifice or...something else... What is a "hero"? Do we need them? Why? And where do they come from, what causes one man, a seemingly ordinary man, to perform an heroic act? Is he all of us? Is this potential inside us all? Delight in the asking of these questions, then delight in answering , some of them, one of them....none of them. This film is a fable, with all the potential whimsy and ambiguity therein.
Enjoy.
Toto Le Héros/Toto the hero-A cult film directed by Jaco Van Dormael.
What happens to a person when a small, crazy idea becomes an obsession ? Any obsession has no meaning unless efforts are made to take it to fruition. This is something which has been nicely described by Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael in "Toto the Hero". As a film about the change of identities, there is a good depiction of family atmospheres in the narrative where one gets to see the major protagonists at different stages of their lives. This effect is created by showing all the three major stages of a person's life namely childhood, adulthood and old age. There is a wise usage of time as events related to the protagonists' lives moves back and forth between past and the present, old age, youth and childhood in order to give viewers an idea about the stage where the things must have gone wrong. It is not so often that revenge gets transformed into pardon in a film. However, Toto-our film's hero shows that he is really a true hero as he sacrifices his obsession in order to achieve overall feeling of greatness. He achieves that distinction by forgoing violence and revenge. Lastly, it must be told that "Toto Le Héros" is not really a film for intellectuals. However, cinema is believed to have scored a minor victory over "Philosophy" as one of the villainous characters of this film is called Kant.
- FilmCriticLalitRao
- Aug 14, 2013
- Permalink
Cu-Top says it all
Cu-Top said it all. Only thing I can add is that it seems to start slowly and, if you have a prejudice against self-absorbed European (especially French) movies, this might suggest just another Celt trying to fellate himself.
Instead, it turns out to be a virtually perfect story of self-deception and the choices that back-fire as a result, told at a deliberate pace, and which you care about because we all share some level of that deception.
Again, Cu-Top's review hits the mark; take this little gem seriously.
Another line.
Another line.
Another line.
Why does IMDb insist on ten lines?
Instead, it turns out to be a virtually perfect story of self-deception and the choices that back-fire as a result, told at a deliberate pace, and which you care about because we all share some level of that deception.
Again, Cu-Top's review hits the mark; take this little gem seriously.
Another line.
Another line.
Another line.
Why does IMDb insist on ten lines?