The Eighth Day

This film is about 2 worlds colliding- the one of a yuppie motivational speaker on the fast track, the man Harry, and the other of another man, Georges, who has Downs Syndrome.

The cinematography alone is so fresh and exciting- as a visual feast alone the film is worth watching. But the story! Takes you by surprise- its richness and depth.

I just viewed it last night and the scene of the ballet class inside the "mental institution" was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen via a television or movie screen.

I also haven't laughed so hard in a long time. The laughter of Harry is infectious. Enough to break through Georges hard shell...

For anyone with a moderate sensibility, a moderate feeling of the human and humane condition, for anyone capable of getting above the Hollywood ilk, for anyone who is satisfied seeing cinema which does not have a series of Seagals/Willis/Van Dammes blasting the brains out of anybody or seeing who gets into bed with whom, for anyone whose intellectual level reaches a capacity to grasp, sympathise with, comprehend, laugh WITH, cry WITH natural tender heart-warming hilarious compassionate HUMAN BEINGS, `Le Huitième Jour' is waiting for you. Jaco van Dormael has not achieved simply a masterpiece, that would have been too simplistic; he has achieved one of those rare monumental works of art in the cinematographic world which defies any kind of encapsuling. Is it a drama? Is it a comedy? No: it is the story of Georges, a wonderful funny pitiful laughable loving frightened beautiful personality, a sufferer of the Downes Syndrome. It is a story which has you laughing through your tears, but this is not one of those classic tear-jerkers; this film moves through a world that has you at once mixing your feelings of compassion or pity or even shame with those of admiration, warmth and even love. A successful banking salesman, Harry, bumps into Georges: they were both going in opposite directions with absolutely opposing ideas, problems and priorities; skillfully van Dormael melts these two unlikely men into a warm friendship, but which is so much more than the good buddy friendship of those having a beer down the road. This is a relationship which develops into a profound needing by both for the other. The cuasi-surrealist scenes fit in perfectly: Georges recalls (or invents) past scenes of his life while either day-dreaming or sleeping; even the almost phantasmagorical final scene is totally correct. The only scene which might be considered a little out of place is when they steal a bus and drive it out of the show-rooms. However, this does not detract from the whole. This film is a monument. Even if your French is not up to much, please bear seeing it with sub-titles. `Le Huitième Jour' is worth the trouble. As for anything else, well, just read the following commentaries – I go along with all of them. This film is a joy, it is majestic, it is unique. If you have seen `Rain Man' which I consider an excellent film, you must see this one: it is far superior because it has not the superficial veneer of famous Hollywood-produced world-renowned actors; it has Pascal Duquenne and Daniel Auteuil – TEN oscars for these two, and three more for Jaco van Dormael. Who cares…………? Yes: 11 out of 10 if the IMDb rating doesn't break down under the strain.

Magnifique! Chapeau!

I have not watched many French-language films in my lifetime, but The Eighth Day and Amelie are way up there on my list of favourite movies. Perhaps it's just overexposure to the monolithic crap Hollywood mass produces today, but these films have an atmosphere that are like a breath of fresh air. Even with (or perhaps because of) little to no special effects to bedazzle you, you are immersed before you know it. The spontaneity and sheer oddness of some of the scenes add to the charm of the film, as does the tumultuous and unlikely friendship between a workaholic and a man with Down's syndrome. The Eighth Day gives you something to reflect on, a pause from the fast paced lifestyles we are caught up in today.

Foolishly, without bothering to learn any more about it than that it involved Daniel Auteuil and a guy with Downs Syndrome, I avoided this classic til a couple of days ago when they were offering the video for silly money. Let me put my ten cents in with every comment I have read here immediately and state categorically that this film is a JOY. Okay, you know going in that a major character is handicapped so you figure that at some point the movie is going to manipulate your emotions and you're ready for that but, like most things, it's all in the wrist, and this one has an extra metatarsal. It is, of course, the salesman who spends his life lecturing on how to manipulate the buyer who is himself manipulated by Georges - nice touch naming him after the 'normal' one of the two buddies in 'Of Mice And Men', where the retarded Lenny is looked after by George - the irritating, exasperating, impossible lovable guy who walks into his life after Harry nearly ran into his. Okay, to make this work you need to create a character who is the complete opposite of Georges, a guy literally too busy making money and being successful to stop and smell the roses. A guy who misses his daughters dreadfully since his estranged wife - it's not clear if they are divorced or just separated - took them away yet is so busy that he completely forgets to pick them up and leaves them waiting alone at the train station; who opts to attend a conference on his daughter's birthday, you get the picture. Georges misses someone, too. His mother, who is dead. Time and again in his loneliness and hurt he conjures her up and we see the great love they shared. This then, is the back story and the scene is set for what Hollywood used to call a 'meet-cute'. Here, Auteuil, in despair, his mind in a turmoil, driving through the rain runs over something large which he failed to see. Turns out to be the dog that had attached itself to Georges who has lit out from his residential home after watching all the other residents being picked up by relatives. Now all that is left is for Georges to 'change' Harry, to humanise him if you will and this he does in spades. This is a film chock full of laughter and tears and the fact that a leading French actress Miou-Miou agreed to play what is little more than a cameo as Harry's estranged wife speaks volumes for the quality of the writing. Now and again the cynicism surrounding the gongs of filmdom, especially the Oscars, get it right and how appropriate that BOTH these superb actors copped the 'Best Actor' nod at Cannes. 10/10

This is the French and Belgians doing what they do best. It's quirky, visually inventive, exhilarating and emotionally challenging storytelling. Director Jaco van Dormael takes us into the world of Georges, a Down's Syndrome sufferer and his quest for a meaningful relationship with someone, just anyone. This is not done in a patronising way but with a great sense of fun and also honesty. Georges' interplay with corporate management guru, Harry is dazzlingly handled - shifting from comedy to tragedy back to comedy again with breathtaking ease.

The Eighth Day puts similar Hollywood fare like Barry Levinson's Oscar winning Rain Man or Robert Zemeckis's Forrest Gump well and truly in the shade. At times, it evokes the humour of Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with shades of Dennis Potter thrown in for good measure.

As the emotionally blunted and desperately lonely yuppie, Harry, Daniel Auteuil turns in yet another sublime performance. But it is matched by the brilliant Pascal Duquenne as Georges. It's a movie with uniformly strong performances and so many, memorable set pieces - the shoe shop scene, car showroom scene, George's dance to Genesis's 'Jesus He Knows Me,' the conference scene, the fireworks scene. If you haven't seen it, there's only one thing to do. Just rent it or attend a screening at a retro cinema near you and see what you've been missing. Better still, buy this movie. Sheer genius.....