Mon Père, Ce Héros [My Father, The Hero] *** (1991, Gérard Depardieu, Marie Gillain, Catherine Jacob, Patrick Mille) – Classic Movie Review 9596

Writer-director Gérard Lauzier’s 1991 Mon Père, Ce Héros [My Father, The Hero] is a rather conventional, slightly dull French romantic comedy, but it is amusing enough and is much enlivened by Gérard Depardieu’s nimble performance as André Arnel, a divorced father who takes his sexy, precocious 14-year-old daughter, Véro Arnel (Marie Gillain), on holiday to Mauritius and sees it as his parental duty to fend off suitors young and old.

Patrick Mille plays the local boy, Benjamin, she falls for but pretends her dad is her older lover to make him jealous. Catherine Jacob plays the lonely middle-aged woman Christelle, who wants Depardieu.

Lauzier’s bitter-sweet script shows flashes of Gallic charm, and has risqué elements that are provocative and funny, treading a lighthearted knife-edge for warmth and fun. Depardieu is very entertaining and sympathetic even in farcical situations, and the movie is prettily filmed on the Isle of Mauritius.

It was remade in America, again with Depardieu, as My Father, The Hero (1994), directed by Steve Miner, and with Katherine Heigl, Faith Prince and Stephen Tobolowsky.

Also in the cast are Charlotte de Turckheim, Gérard Hérold, Jean-François Rangasamy, Koomaren Chetty, Evelyne Lagesse, Benoït Allemane, Franck-Olivier Bonnet, Yan Brian and Nicholas Sobrido.

Mon Père, Ce Héros [My Father, The Hero] is directed by Gérard Lauzier, runs 104 minutes, is made by DD Productions, Film Par Film, Orly Films, TF1 Films, Paravision International and Canal+, is released by AMLF (1991) (France) and Gala (1991) (UK), is written by Gérard Lauzier, is shot by Patrick Blossier, is produced by Jean-Louis Livi, is scored by François Bernheim and is designed by Christian Marti.

Depardieu worked with Catherine Jacob on Merci la vie (1991) and suggested her for Mon Père, Ce Héros.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9596

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