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{{use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Toto the Hero
| image          = Toto le Héros, 1991.jpg
| caption        = VHS artwork
| director       = [[Jaco Van Dormael]] <br>[[Bénédicte Liénard]]<br>(assistant director)
| producer       = [[Pierre Drouot]]<br>[[Dany Geys]]<br>[[Luciano Gloor]]
| writer         = [[Didier De Neck]]<br>[[Pascal Lonhay]]<br>Jaco Van Dormael<br>[[Laurette Vankeerberghen]]
| starring       = [[Michel Bouquet]]<br>[[Jo De Backer]]<br>[[Mireille Perrier]]<br>[[Gisela Uhlen]]
| music          = [[Pierre van Dormael]]
| cinematography = [[Walther van den Ende]]
| editing        = [[Susana Rossberg]]
| released       = {{film date|1991|5|16|df=yes}}
| runtime        = 91 minutes
| country        = Belgium<br>France<br>Germany
| language       = French
| gross          =1 million admissions (Europe)<ref name=adm/>
}}

'''''Toto the Hero''''' ({{langx|fr|'''Toto le héros'''}}) is a 1991 Belgian film (co-produced with France and Germany) by Belgian [[film director]] and [[screenwriter]] [[Jaco Van Dormael]]. It won the [[Caméra d'Or]] award at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in 1991, and the [[César Award for Best Foreign Film]] in 1992. The film was selected as the Belgian entry for the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]] at the [[64th Academy Awards]], but was not accepted as a nominee.<ref>Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences</ref>

==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 [[flashback (literary technique)|flashback]]s, interspersed with [[dream sequence|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 [[espionage|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.

==Cast==
*[[Michel Bouquet]] as Thomas (old man)
*[[Jo De Backer]] as Thomas (adult)
*[[Thomas Godet]] as Thomas (child)
*[[Gisela Uhlen]] as Evelyne (old woman)
*[[Mireille Perrier]] as Evelyne (young woman)
*[[Sandrine Blancke]] as Alice
*[[Michel Robin]] as Alfred (old's voice)
*[[Peter Böhlke]] as Alfred (old man)
*[[Didier Ferney]] as Alfred (adult)
*[[Hugo Harold Harrison]] as Alfred (child)
*[[Fabienne Loriaux]] as Thomas' Mother
*[[Klaus Schindler]] as Thomas' Father
*[[Pascal Duquenne]] as Celestin (adult)
*[[Karim Moussati]] as Celestin (child)
*[[Didier De Neck]] as Mr. Kant
*[[Christine Smeysters]] as Mrs. Kant
*[[Jo Deseure]] as Sales Woman
*[[Bouli Lanners]] as Gangster

==Release==
The film is available on DVD in the UK and mainland Europe. It was released on Blu-Ray in the UK and United States in August 2020 by [[Arrow Academy]], with documentaries on the making of the film ('Memories of Hero') and on [[François Schuiten]] ('François Schuiten, Architect of an Unfinished Dream').

==Reception==
[[Vincent Canby]] gave the film an enthusiastic review in ''[[The New York Times]]'', calling it "an enormously witty, bittersweet comedy" that "is both shocking and elegiacal." He wrote that "the film has the density of a fine short story, written by a master who somehow manages to create a novel-sized world through an uncanny command of ellipsis" and praised "Van Dormael's extraordinary gift for the simultaneous expression of utterly contradictory emotions."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/21/movies/review-film-festival-it-s-never-too-late-to-play-the-hero.html|title=Review/Film Festival; It's Never Too Late To Play The Hero|last=Canby|first=Vincent|date=1991-09-21|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' described the film as "a winning blend of kid's fantasy and adult comedy that's as fresh as a hot croissant."<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://variety.com/1990/film/reviews/toto-le-heros-1200428673/|title=Toto le Heros|date=1991-01-01|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|language=en|access-date=2019-11-24}}</ref> ''Time Out'' called it "an immensely vibrant, inventive, compassionate movie", and added that though Van Dormael has "an engagingly witty eye for the absurd", he has rooted his film "in ''emotional'' reality, so that Thomas' life, loves, desires and anxieties take on great poignancy."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/toto-the-hero|title=Toto the Hero|website=Time Out London|language=en|access-date=2019-11-24}}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] admitted it was "an interesting film", and remarked that he would have liked it more "if it had been more bitter and unforgiving; if someone like Bunuel had directed it".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/toto-le-heros-1992|title=Toto Le Heros movie review & film summary|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=1992-03-30|website=www.rogerebert.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-24}}</ref>

On [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 91%, based on 11 reviews, and an average rating of 7.7/10.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/toto_the_hero |title=Toto le Héros (Toto the Hero) (1991) |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date=April 10, 2018}}</ref>

The film had admissions of 477,000 in France and 500,000 from Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.<ref name=adm>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Screen International]]|date=12 November 1993|title=Toto Le Heros box-office results|page=14}}</ref> In Brussels, it was the seventh most popular film of the year (and most popular Belgian film) with a gross of 16.9 million [[Belgian franc]]s.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Screen Finance|page=11|date=25 March 1992|title=Top 20 films in West European countries in 1991: Belgium}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of submissions to the 64th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film]]
* [[List of Belgian submissions for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0103105|title=Toto le Héros}}
*[http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/toto-le-heros TOTO LES HEROS] at [[Cannes Film Festival]]

{{Jaco Van Dormael}}
{{Navboxes
|title= Awards for ''Toto the Hero''
|list=
{{André Cavens Award 1981–2000}}
{{Caméra d'Or}}
{{César Award for Best Foreign Film}}
{{European Film Award for Discovery of the Year}}
}}
{{Belgian submission for Academy Awards}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toto Le Heros}}
[[Category:1991 films]]
[[Category:Belgian comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Best Foreign Film César Award winners]]
[[Category:European Film Awards winners (films)]]
[[Category:1990s French-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jaco Van Dormael]]
[[Category:Films shot in Brussels]]
[[Category:Caméra d'Or winners]]
[[Category:Belgian independent films]]
[[Category:1991 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:1991 independent films]]
[[Category:French-language Belgian films]]