Summary
When his girlfriend walks out on him, André takes his 14 year old daughter, Véronique,
on a luxury holiday in Mauritius. Despite her father’s best efforts to keep
his daughter away from unsavoury looking young men, Véronique strikes up a friendship
with an attractive young surfer, Benjamin. To impress her new boyfriend, Véronique
concocts an increasingly far-fetched story about her father. When he finds out,
André agrees to back up his daughter’s story, but with some embellishments of his
own...
Review
The complexities of the problematic relationship between a middle-aged
father and his teenage daughter are skilfully interwoven with coming of
age themes in this engaging French comedy, sensitively scripted and
directed by Gérard Lauzier. Even though the story
occasionally ambles into dangerous territory (with the blithe
insouciance of a drunk crossing a minefield) - a key plot point being
that the central character is mistaken for a paedophile - Mon père, ce héros is
an astute, at times blisteringly perceptive, study in how a father and
his daughter relate to one another at the point when the latter begins
to become aware of her sexual identity.
The sense of loss felt by the father at this traumatic time in their lives is beautifully conveyed by Gérard Depardieu in one of his more authentic screen portrayals, whilst Marie Gillain - stunning in her first screen role - perfectly captures that perilous concoction of childlike naivety and nascent sexual awareness. The sumptuous location setting provides an appropriate Garden of Eden backdrop for a story that is fundamentally about the loss of innocence, the transition from playful ignorance to a more mature understanding of the world, for both the daughter and her father. Despite its light surface texture, the film deals with some complex and important issues and is a much darker and more profound work than it initially appears.
Whilst the film is punctuated by moments of intense poignancy, Mon père, ce héros also offers some great comedy. The sight of a tragically overweight Depardieu struggling hopelessly to master the art of wind surfing is hilarious beyond belief, although there is almost as much humour to be found in the repartee between the two main characters. The film owes much of its charm and emotional power to the genuine warmth in the on-screen rapport between Depardieu and Gillain, something which elevates a merely average romantic comedy to the level of a classic love story, in which a father and his daughter realise that they must soon part and head off in different directions, such is the course of life.
The unexpected success of Mon père, ce héros in France and abroad resulted in an American remake three years later, My Father the Hero. Directed by Steve Miner (who started out by making such lowbrow horror films as Friday the 13th Part 2 and House), the film paired Gérard Depardieu, reprising his role from Lauzier’s film, with Katherine Heigl. Needless to say, it is not a patch on the original film and merely exacerbates the minor flaws in that film to an almost unbearable degree. One of the supplementary delights of Mon père, ce héros - the icing on the gateau, you might say - is that the two principals were hired to sing the songs which accompany the opening and closing credits. Marie Gillain sings the suitably spunky Sans mensonge at the top of the film, with the same gamine precociousness that defines her character in the film, whilst Depardieu closes the film with his soulful rendition of the bossa nova song Ça va... Why neither of them went on to have a hit music career after this remains a complete mystery.
© James Travers 2010
Write a review for this film...
The sense of loss felt by the father at this traumatic time in their lives is beautifully conveyed by Gérard Depardieu in one of his more authentic screen portrayals, whilst Marie Gillain - stunning in her first screen role - perfectly captures that perilous concoction of childlike naivety and nascent sexual awareness. The sumptuous location setting provides an appropriate Garden of Eden backdrop for a story that is fundamentally about the loss of innocence, the transition from playful ignorance to a more mature understanding of the world, for both the daughter and her father. Despite its light surface texture, the film deals with some complex and important issues and is a much darker and more profound work than it initially appears.
Whilst the film is punctuated by moments of intense poignancy, Mon père, ce héros also offers some great comedy. The sight of a tragically overweight Depardieu struggling hopelessly to master the art of wind surfing is hilarious beyond belief, although there is almost as much humour to be found in the repartee between the two main characters. The film owes much of its charm and emotional power to the genuine warmth in the on-screen rapport between Depardieu and Gillain, something which elevates a merely average romantic comedy to the level of a classic love story, in which a father and his daughter realise that they must soon part and head off in different directions, such is the course of life.
The unexpected success of Mon père, ce héros in France and abroad resulted in an American remake three years later, My Father the Hero. Directed by Steve Miner (who started out by making such lowbrow horror films as Friday the 13th Part 2 and House), the film paired Gérard Depardieu, reprising his role from Lauzier’s film, with Katherine Heigl. Needless to say, it is not a patch on the original film and merely exacerbates the minor flaws in that film to an almost unbearable degree. One of the supplementary delights of Mon père, ce héros - the icing on the gateau, you might say - is that the two principals were hired to sing the songs which accompany the opening and closing credits. Marie Gillain sings the suitably spunky Sans mensonge at the top of the film, with the same gamine precociousness that defines her character in the film, whilst Depardieu closes the film with his soulful rendition of the bossa nova song Ça va... Why neither of them went on to have a hit music career after this remains a complete mystery.
© James Travers 2010
Write a review for this film...
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Useful links
- Best French films of 2011
- Best French films of the 2000s
- Best of the French New Wave
- Best of French film comedy
- The best 100 French films
- The most successful French films
- Great French filmmakers
Related links
- Other French films of the 1990s
- The best French films of the 1990s
- Other French comedy-dramas
- The best French comedy-dramas
- Biography and films of Gérard Lauzier
To buy this film
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Credits
- Director: Gérard Lauzier
- Script: Gérard Lauzier
- Photo: Patrick Blossier
- Music: François Bernheim
- Cast: Gérard Depardieu (André Arnel), Marie Gillain (Véronique), Patrick Mille (Benjamin), Catherine Jacob (Christelle), Charlotte de Turckheim (Irina), Gérard Hérold (Patrick), Jean-François Rangasamy (Pablo), Koomaren Chetty (Karim)
- Country: France
- Language: French
- Runtime: 105 min
- Aka: My Father the Hero
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Comedy / Drama / Romance






