Toto le Héros (Toto the Hero) poster & wallpaper

Michel Bouquet, Jo De Backer, Thomas Godet

Thomas and Alfred were born around the same time; a fire in the nursery had nurses scrambling to save the newborns. Because he felt that he deserved Alfred's good fortune at being born into a wealthy ...( read more  read more... )family, Thomas conceives the idea that he and Alfred were switched at birth, and he can't help seeing that his unhappiness should be Alfred's, from the loss of his sister to his inability to have a relationship with the woman Evelyne. So, as his life is ending, he formulates a plan of revenge against his bitter enemy, his lifetime adversary, the man who stole his existence.

Flixster Users

91% liked it

398 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

8 critics

PG-13, 2 hrs. 12 min.

Directed by: Jaco Van Dormael

Release Date: June 19, 1991

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DVD Release Date: March 29, 2005

Stats: 81 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (81)

  • threefolddado
    July 16, 2008
    threefolddado
    Highly imaginative and stylishly directed. One of my favorites.
  • hypathio7
    October 9, 2009
    hypathio7
    nominated for best foreign film by NBR
  • SadisticMinister
    June 8, 2009
    SadisticMinister
    This looks interesting.
  • jmankas
    June 7, 2009
    jmankas
    charming and strange film, with several aspects resembling Amélie. its worth a watch.
  • arashxak
    October 21, 2008
    arashxak
    Since I really liked The Eighth Day I decided to check this one & I liked this even more than that, I just disliked the ending otherwise a wonderful movie
  • fifo35
    April 6, 2008
    fifo35
    The 1991 Belgian film "Toto le Heros" ("Toto the Hero") is a slick little expressionistic allegory which should be extremely depressing as it presents the process of living as a damned if you do-damned if you don't choice. And that choice as something which is made for each perso...( read more)n by their basic nature and the events that shape their early life. The film follows two childhood neighbors who were born about the same time but into very different circumstances. Their parallel destinies occasionally touch each other and finally merge at the end, although the end is shown at the beginning and the story then told in a series of fluid non-linear flashbacks. It is the only film that begins with a person simultaneously choking on a sweet, being shot in the back, strangling in a curtain, and drowning?

    While most of the flashbacks are done realistically there are some with an expressionistic style; those linked together by the catchy theme song "When Your Heart Goes Boom" are especially cool. Also noteworthy is the shelf of toy soldiers who march to their destruction as the plane's vibrations topple them off the edge.

    Thomas Van Hasebroeck (teasingly nicknamed Van Chickensoup) is a lifelong dreamer because he fears action and commitment after his precocious sister (Alice) is killed because of his demands that she do something that will prove she still loves him. As an old man he finds himself filled with regret over lost opportunities and unfulfilled heroic dreams (insert the title here).

    His counterpart, Alfred, lives life as a man of action and privilege, whose life of wrong choices leaves him with a lot of enemies and at least as many regrets as Thomas. From an early age Thomas envied Alfred, even concocting a fantasy about the two of them being switched at birth. Ironically, Alfred has lived his whole life envious of Thomas's seemingly unencumbered life.

    Ultimately the story is less depressing than one would expect. In part because of a fair amount of humor and whimsy but also because of the introduction of a third alternative to living. Celestin is Thomas's developmentally disabled brother, content with just appreciating what life offers, an allegorical representation of the "stop and smell the roses" idea. Celestin is very loving and very much at peace with his existence, in one scene he is contently lying on the grass tuned into the movement of a mole tunneling in the ground beneath him.

    Sandrine Blancke was especially good as Alice, whose sudden adolescence flowering leaves both Thomas and Alfred hopelessly in love with her; a love that will torment them both for the rest of their lives. My favorite scenes are Alice's determined confrontations with the Blessed Virgin after her father's disappearance.

    A big strength of "Toto le Heros" is the directing. There is not a single weak performance, especially amazing because the main characters are portrayed by a succession of actors of differing ages. Writer-director Jaco Van Dormael and his make-up people are the real "Heros" as their physical casting and make-up effects provide utterly believable visual examples of each character at different life stages. It is like watching persons literally age before your eyes
  • vanessabeije
    February 20, 2008
    vanessabeije
    Over een man, die op een dag besluit dat hij een held gaat worden. Mooie, sprookjesachtige film.
  • frankjr19
    November 16, 2007
    frankjr19
    L'ambiance fut assez étrange, l'écoute fut assez bizarre, mais il n'en demeure qu'un grand travail a été réalisé sur ce film. En effet, toute la notion du fantasmagoria y est appliquée à merveille, et la réalité emboîte rapidement le pas au délire illusoire, si bien que le specta...( read more)teur est constamment en questionnement, prié de remettre en question sa propre vision de l'histoire, qui est en fait celle d'un homme, Thomas, convaincu que, lorsqu'il était à la pouponnière et qu'un terrible incendie a éclaté, sa mère s'est trompé d'enfant et a choisi son voisin de droite. C'est alors à l'âge d'or, vers 70 ans, qu'il met son existence en rétrospective et qu'il s'aperçoit que sa vie ne fut caractérisée que par l'échec et par la déception. Brimé, il se met donc en tête d'obtenir vengeance en assassinant celui ''qui avait pris sa place auprès de sa famille''.

    Une réalisation ingénieuse, qui aurait toutefois pu être alimentée par une histoire beaucoup plus complète.
  • andyshades
    June 12, 2007
    andyshades
    Never thought anything this good could ever come out of Belgium!

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