Toto the Hero [Toto le Héros] **** (1991, Michel Bouquet, Mireille Perrier, Jo De Backer) – Classic Movie Review 10,777

Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael’s 1991 European cinema film Toto the Hero [Toto le Héros] is a clever, complex, unusual and satisfying film about Thomas (Michel Bouquet) who has planned a deadly revenge since he found he was swapped as a baby with Alfred the kid next door.

Toto the Hero [Toto le Héros] is a weird and witty journey through Thomas (Bouquet)’s melancholic mind, obsessed with jealousy and hate for the man he should have become, his love for his sister and her double, Evelyne (Mireille Perrier).

Dormael gets great mileage from mixing the bizarre with the believable, and there is a poignant performance from Bouquet to relish,  winning him the Best Actor European Film Award.

Also in the cast are Jo De Backer, Thomas Godet, Gisela Uhlen, Mireille Perrier, Sandrine Blancke, and Peter Böhlke.

Thomas Godet plays Child Thomas, Jo De Backer plays Adult Thomas and Michel Bouquet plays Old Thomas and is the voice of Adult Thomas. Mireille Perrier plays Adult Evelyne and is the voice of old Evelyne. Gisela Uhlen plays Old Evelyne.

French stage and film actor Michel Bouquet (6 November 1925 – 13 April 2022) appeared in more than 100 films from 1947 to 2020. He won the Best Actor European Film Award for Toto the Hero in 1991 and two Best Actor Césars for How I Killed My Father (2001) and The Last Mitterrand (2005).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,777

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