Toto the Hero
8 /10 1 Votes
Initial release May 16, 1991 (Ghent) Duration Country Belgium, France, Germany | 7.8/10 IMDb Genre Comedy, Drama Music director Pierre Van Dormael | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Writer Didier De Neck , Pascal Lonhay , Laurette Vankeerberghen Cast (Thomas, as an old man), (Evelyne as an old woman), Jo De Backer (Thomas, as an adult), (Evelyne as young woman)Similar movies Michel Bouquet movies, Set in Belgium, Dramas |
Toto the hero 1991 trailer
Toto the Hero (French: Toto le Héros) is a 1991 Belgian film (co-produced with France and Germany) by Belgian film director and screenwriter Jaco Van Dormael. The film was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
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Plot

Ostensibly set in the near future, the film tells the life story of an elderly man named Thomas Van Hasebroeck (who has dubbed himself Toto, after a childhood fantasy), looking back on his ordinary, apparently uneventful life in a complex mosaic of flashbacks, interspersed with fantasies about how events might have turned out differently. It is not always possible to tell the difference between embellished or manufactured memories and fantasies, as Thomas is a very unreliable narrator, but some scenes (such as the narrative thread that features Toto as a secret agent) are definitely fantasized.

Thomas firmly believes his life to have been "stolen" from him by Alfred Kant, born at the same time as Thomas, who Thomas believes was inadvertently switched with himself as a baby (characteristically, the film remains ambiguous as to whether this substitution ever actually happened, with Thomas' only substantiation being his apparent vivid memory of the day he was born). Thomas' jealousy of Alfred has overshadowed all his life, often with tragic consequences for his loved ones, and he is plotting revenge. Throughout most of the film, his intended revenge takes the shape of a plot to kill Alfred, but in the end Thomas finds a more creative and surprising way to "take back" his life.
DVD release

Paramount Pictures has yet to announce any plans to release the film onto DVD in North America. It is available on DVD in the UK and mainland Europe.
Cast





References
Toto the Hero WikipediaToto the Hero IMDb Toto the Hero themoviedb.org