Powerful

good back-story, and good acting

Admirable film.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Thomas has a clear memory of being swapped with another baby during a fire when he was a newborn in the hospital.The movie goes back and forth in the life of Thomas as mostly follows the revenge he has planned against the guy who lived his life.All of his life's difficulties and joys seem to originate and be stolen - respectively - by his mortal enemy.As in all of Dormael's stories, there is a moment in childhood where you loose your innocence: this is the moment you understand the world and for your vision of life. This can happen mostly through trauma and so the loss of innocence in this movie happens when Thomas is a newborn.But it also keeps happening at each turn of Thomas' life and at every choice. We can't change who he decided to be.And the life his enemy has lead is one of luxury, love and happiness - or could it be that it is not so much what Thomas thinks? Great soundtrack with the magnificent Trenet singing Boum Boum.In a way that sort of fable that modern french cinema has given us with Amelie but somewhat darker and much more complex and profound.You will laugh and cry. You'll feel like your heart is being squeezed and in the end it's let gone and you feel free with the last scene.

Thomas, an old man confined to a nursing home, cannot help but to reflect on his life since he has nothing else to do. Thomas, of "Toto" as he was known by his family and friends, was a child that always thought he was changed at birth as the hospital where he was born is destroyed by a raging fire. The baby next to him, ironically, becomes his neighbor, and tormentor for most of his life.Home life for Thomas was full of hardships. The loss of his aviator father in a plane crash marked him for life. The fact that the accident was provoked, in part, by Thomas' neighbor, Mr. Kant, the rich man next door, will perpetuate his resentment toward Alfred Kant. Thomas' mother had to make ends meet, having been left with three children. To make things more difficult, Celestin, the youngest brother suffered from autism.Alice and Thomas became closer as the result of not having a father around. Thomas was prone to dream in cinematic terms, thinking he was going to avenge his father's death. In his reverie, he saw a gangster film where the Kants were given their due. Alice held an attraction over Thomas that was reflected later on when he was an adult in Evelyne, the wife of Alfred Kant, who happened to live in the home that stood next to his house. The older Thomas decides to escape the institution where he has been confined to take care of Alfred, now an older man, living by himself.Jaco Van Dormael directed the film. He also collaborated on the screenplay. The director's choice of a non linear narrative might seem confusing for some viewers, but the end result is quite satisfying because one can see what his intentions were. Resentment, in many ways, played heavily on the Thomas' character. He went through life thinking his stolen life was lived by Alfred.Michel Bouquet, the distinguished French actor, does a fine job as the older Thomas. The other stages of his life were played by two wonderful players, the young Jo De Backer and the adult Thomas Godet. Mireille Perrier is seen as the younger Evelyne. There is an excellent performance by Sandrine Blanke as Alice.

Jaco Van Dormael conjures up (he was a magician and a clown) one of those films that because of their formal beauty and intelligent content deserve to be seen more often but are not. The film is full of internal echoes, images that resurface under different contexts, and make you rethink them again and again (dare I say like in Citizen Kane?). As if that were not enough, there are many other resonances to genres and specific films that will make film buffs laugh with excitement: quotations to gangster films, to Hitchcock, to Bunuel, etc. are all there to be discovered and enjoyed. Alan Moore would be smiling at the construction of this beautiful crystal web that is the narrative of this film. See it and rejoice...

This movie is sheer visual poetry. Although it is in subtitles and I don't speak a lick of French, I found myself not needing to read the subtitles as the visuals told the entire story. This is rather impressive, as the story is very complicated. It tells the tale of one man's life by interweaving four different elements of his life: Childhood, Middle-Age, Old-Age, and a Film Noir Fantasy World. To give it even more of a chance of being confusing, these elements are not shown chronologically. However, "Toto..." is not confusing at all. It pulls off this complicated plot beautifully. This movie truly is a Modern Day Classic!! DVD? When? Criterion Edition!