My Father the Hero (1991)

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A rare thing happened when this French comedy was made: the creator, Gerard Lauzier made a typical American movie. In fact, it appears this was a trial production for the remake Hollywood intended to do a few years later, minus the services of its creator. "Mon pere, ces hero" is a mildly entertaining light comedy for starters, with a Gallic twist.Andre, a divorced man, wants to spend his winter vacation with his teen ager daughter, Veronique in a beautiful place, the island of Mauritius, situated in the Indian Ocean. An island paradise indeed, with a large clientele of French tourists. Veronique feels awkward, at an age that she is still a child, but wants to be seen as much older. A father and a daughter traveling together was not exactly a common occurrence back in the last part of the last century, something that Vero decides to put an end to. She wants to pass as the mistress of her own father, in order to attract the young man she sets her eyes into.The situation Vero finds herself in, is rather unusual for Benjamin, the French young man who likes her. Because of the lie Vero tells him, Benjamin cannot stand sight of the older man that seem to dominate the girl he likes. There will be a confrontation when Vero decides to spend some time with Benjamin away from her father. Fortunately, things are resolved in a civil manner when Andre decides to cooperate with Vero's wishes.A slimmer Gerard Depardieu, one of the busiest men in the French cinema, appears as Andre, the father that wants to have a good time with a daughter he does not get to see as often as he wants. Marie Gillain, whose screen debut this film marked, is fun to watch as the naughty Vero. The promise she showed then has kept her busy after this appearance. Patrick Mille also made his first acting before the cameras shows intelligence and good looks. He showed he was well suited for a success in the movies.

I had been searching for this film I saw on the BBC years and years ago every so often, when people began chatting about films, I would ask everyone, "It stars Gerard Depardieu and he goes somewhere with this girl who's stunning and uses her beauty and, urgh! I can't remember what it's called but it's amazing!!". Everyone looks confused and no-one knows the title. I eventually gave up. Then thanks to the internet, I recently found it! And I bought it. And it is even better than I remembered! The story is simple but perfect. A middle class divorced father and his beautiful daughter (who he dotes on but as with most teenagers doesn't appreciate it much) go to a resort and she quickly pretends he is her lover who is only claiming to be her dad. She gets the attention and sympathy from cute guys nearer her own age and the whole story just develops brilliantly. She is stunning and he has his typical charm and so the whole thing is completely believable from start to finish. Of course, the story has more than that, including some nice little subplots, but I don't want to spoil it. The highlights are Gerard Depardieu's wonderful acting and the fast- paced script. With those excellent sarcastic comments and funny expressions as he deals with his little girl pushing him to the edge of sanity (plus people occasionally trying to hurt him, and once almost kill him) the moments for the highlight real count up fast. Apart from some of the known French classic films this movie is a total gem way above the rest within the French film industry. It's that good, really. I'm not sure this is the very, very best comedy ever but it's definitely in my top 3 for sure. Constant laughs and father-daughter dynamics which are totally accurate make sure of that for me. Even my mother, who is rarely impressed by French films, fell in love with this as much as I did again after all these years.

Please do not pass this film by, it is worth all the effort to find it (I found mine on Amazon co.u.k), and similar to other forum users I watched the USA version first. Without going over the film details all of which have been written in this forum and in much better detail than I can muster, all I can say that this should not be compared to the USA version as the French version is far superior in every way.I gave this a 7.5 out of 10, one point missing as the transfer from a VHS take can only be considered very poor, but having said that I would not part with my DVD copy for ten times what I paid for it. Enough said, this is a top French comedy, and Gerard Depardieu out acts everyone again, this is a forgotten French gem :)

This film is a corker! It is one of depardieu's finest, and is well worth watching! I saw this film and was instantly put off by the fact it was subtitled (I only speak french adequately, not well enough to get by with a whole film!) but after 2 minutes I was engrossed! This film is a MUST!!!!