Toto The Hero (originally Toto Le Hérôs) 1991
Thomas (and his alter-ego Toto the Hero) is played by three actors - Michel Bouquet as an old man, Jo De Backer as an adult and Thomas Godet as a child – in this wonderful film. Thomas believes that he was swapped with another baby (Alfred) during a fire in the maternity hospital where they were both born. The fire is shown but it is deliberately not made clear whether or not the babies were muddled up. Alfred grows up in a rich household and has a successful and happy life whereas Thomas has it pretty rough; losing both a young sister and his father before their time. To make things worse, when he meets and falls in love with a woman, she turns out to be Alfred’s wife.
This all sounds like the recipe for a miserable ninety minute’s film watching that you’ll never get back, but as written and directed by Jaco Van Dormael it is anything but. It skips back and forth between Thomas’ childhood, middle-age, old-age and the fantasy life of his imaginary self (Toto the Hero) with a dexterity that never confuses and always intrigues and/or delights.
Toto the Hero features one of catchiest tunes you’ll ever hear – ‘Boum’ by Charles Trenet – all together now Boum! L'astre du jour fait boum. Tout avec lui dit boum. Quand notre coeur fait boum-boum!
This is one of those films (‘Venus’, ‘About Schmidt’) that I have seen at the right time in my life (i.e. old) to really appreciate them.
As of 2012, Michel Bouquet, who plays old man Thomas, has had a sixty-nine year career in film and television. He is still working at the age of 91.
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