Le héros de la famille (2006)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Thierry Klifa

Writer:

Christopher Thompson (writer)

Release Date:

20 December 2006 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Male Nudity | Cabaret | Magic | Family Relationships | Last Will And Testament

Cast

Gérard Lanvin	...	Nicky Guazzini
Catherine Deneuve	...	Alice Mirmont
Emmanuelle Béart	...	Léa O'Connor
Miou-Miou	...	Simone Garcia
Michaël Cohen	...	Nino Bensalem
Géraldine Pailhas	...	Marianne Bensalem
Claude Brasseur	...	Gabriel Stern
Valérie Lemercier	...	Pamela
Pierrick Lilliu	...	Fabrice
Gilles Lellouche	...	Jérôme
Claire Maurier	...	Colette
Pierre Perrier	...	Raphaël
Lorenzo Balducci	...	Frankie
Grégoire Oestermann	...	Antoine
Eléonore Gosset	...	Véra

Also Known As:

Family Hero (International: English title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company:

Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC)

Soundtrack:

I'll close my eyes

What a nice parrot !

"Le héros de la famille" is the story of a cabaret in Nice called "Le perroquet bleu" (The blue parrot). The innkeeper, Gabriel(le) dies at the beginning of the movie and leave his business to his godchildren : Nino and Marianne, whom father (the magician played by Gérard Lanvin) had been taken under Gabriel's wing when he was fifteen years old. After the reading of the will, the fate of the Blue Parrot is in their hands.

After having heard and read a lot of critics which said this movie was great, I've decided to see it so that I could make my own opinion. During maybe half an hour I was wondering "Yeah, that's cool, but not as great as it was supposed to be..." but the more time passed, the more I understood why I've been said it was a fine movie.

First of all, the cast is outstanding! Gérard Lanvin is very good in this part of a lost man, who just begins to know his children when his father-like best friend dies. Catherine Deneuve is very funny, she becomes less and less cold as she gets older. And all the others (I won't name all the great actors who play in this movie) are very right in their parts.

Then, every character has his own psychology. Some of them appear only a few minutes in the movie, but we feel that they ARE, they do exist in the movie. They're not just here to walk-on, they're here because they belong to the big family of the Blue Parrot.

I also think the movie deals with a lot of existential questions: Do we have to live like our parents? Do we have to do the direct opposite of them? From whom do we inherit? and finally, I think the most important question : What a family is?

So, if you like french cinema, french actors, or if you like the "films chorale" (i don't know how to say it in English : a movie in which there is no protagonist, or more exactly in which everybody is), "Le héros de la famille" has been made for you!...

... and if you don't, nothing keep you from being curious ;)