My Father the Hero by Gerard Lauzier

My Father the Hero by Gerard Lauzier

From the start, the under signed needs to say that this is a lamentable use of the talent of Gerard Depardieu, especially since in 1994 he was at the zenith of his career, the actor had been involved in formidable motion pictures like:

Cyrano de Bergerac, Camille Claudel, Sous Le Soleil de Satan, Tous Les Matins Du Monde, the spectacular Jean de Florette, Danton, the Return of Martin Guerre, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, Mon Oncle D’Amerique…

My Father the Hero is a comedy and a very light one at that, probably destined for teenage audiences, given that the real protagonist of the feature is not Andre aka Gerard Depardieu – although this is definitely a leading role – but his teenage daughter, Nicole.

The girl is not even fifteen – although she pretends to be another age, the lies she tells in order to seduce the young man she likes may have confused this viewer.

The heroine is surely too young to be involved in the shenanigans, games, jokes played in the Bahamas, and there are many outré, unusual scenes that soon become close to unacceptable.

Andre is divorced and takes Nicole on holiday on paradisiacal islands, where she should be happy and enjoy the sand, beach, palm trees and everything else.

Positive psychology studies have revealed a flaw in the Caribbean Island myth or the California Myth, for because of Hedonic Adaptation, when we get to these islands – or other heavenly places where we are sure we would find bliss, if only we could live there – we find we are not so ecstatic after all.

It does not happen as soon as one sets foot on the airport of the islands, but after some weeks spent there – or in any other earthly Shangri La – people tend to return to their set level of happiness, they get used with the sand, weather, trees and start getting annoyed at the traffic problems, energy cutoffs, hurricanes and other serious adversities that we can find in any spot on Earth.

Nicole likes Ben and in order to win his attention, affection and interest, she pretends that Andre is…her lover.

Because he wants her to be happy, the parent plays the game and even uses creativity to try to enforce the hand that his daughter is playing, even when it gets ever more bizarre.

She claims her lover is a dangerous man, who has been in prison; he is much older than she is because she likes older men.

There are some good moments lost in this otherwise sorry narrative, for instance the scene where Andre is invited to play a French song.

He makes a choice, but the public finds it rather outrageous and they slowly start to depart, one by one, until there is only the woman who fancies the French man left at the table.

Andre has no idea that he has made everyone leave, for his back is turned…

The lyrics of that badly chosen piece would horrify the public today, indeed, as stated it has provoked rejection even in the eighties, in the Bahamas, but the original was included in Gigi – included on the lists of best films ever, but filmed in 1958, when standards where different:

"Thank Heaven For Little Girls

Each time a see a little girl about

Five or six or seven

I can't resist the joyous urge

To smile and say.

Thank heaven for little girls

'Cause little girls get bigger every day

Thank heaven for little girls

They grow up in the most delightful way.”