The Eighth Day (1996 film)

The Eighth Day (French: Le huitième jour) is a 1996 Belgian comedy-drama film that tells the story of the friendship that develops between two men who meet by chance. Harry (Daniel Auteuil), a divorced businessman who feels alienated from his children, meets Georges (Pascal Duquenne), an institutionalised man with Down's syndrome, after Georges has escaped from his mental institution and is nearly run over by Harry. The film was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Contents

• Cast
• Awards
• References

The film was written and directed by Jaco Van Dormael. Some scenes in the film appear as dream sequences, often employing magical realism. The music of Luis Mariano ("Mexico," and "Maman, Tu Es La Plus Belle Du Monde") is used in these scenes, with actor Laszlo Harmati playing Mariano, who died in 1970. The original music score is from Pierre Van Dormael, Jaco's brother.

Cast

Daniel Auteuil as Harry

Pascal Duquenne as Georges

Miou-Miou as Julie

Henri Garcin as The director of the bank

Isabelle Sadoyan as Georges' Mother

Michele Maes as Nathalie

Fabienne Loriaux as Fabienne

Hélène Roussel as Julie's mother

Alice van Dormael as Alice

Juliette Van Dormael as Juliette

Didier De Neck as Fabienne's husband

Marie-Pierre Meinzel

Sabrina Leurquin as Waitress in fast food restaurant

Laszlo Harmati as Luis Mariano

Awards

This film was nominated for the Palme d'Or award, the top prize at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. It did win the Best Actor award at the festival, which was given to both Pascal Duquenne and Daniel Auteuil. This was the first time in the festival's history that two actors had shared the award.

The film was also nominated for a César Award and a Golden Globe award.