The eighth daya beautiful and unforgettable film
In 1996 Jaco Van Dormael’s second feature film was released in cinemas, The eighth day. Before that, the Belgian director had already worked with Pasquale Duquenne on the occasion of Totò the hero (1991). But it is with Le Huitième jour that the image of people with Down syndrome will change in France, and that the actor will reveal himself. We follow Harry (Daniel Auteuil) who lives only for his work. He then meets Georges (Pascal Duquenne), a mentally handicapped man suffering from Down syndrome. The latter wants to find his mother and, after a combination of circumstances, Harry will agree to finally take some time off for Georges. Both will thus learn to know each other and a beautiful friendship will be born.
The eighth day it is an extremely touching film because with Georges it confronts us with a sad reality, the stigmatization of people with Down syndrome in our society. But Jaco Van Dormael does not fall into miserabilism. On the contrary. His feature film is too very happy and funwith this response in particular”My friend Harry” which brings with it all the emotion of the film.
Cinema, but not only for Pascal Duquenne
With more than 3.5 million visitors in France AND an award for male acting at the Cannes Film Festival for Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne, The eighth day it was a great success. Most importantly, it opened the door for Pascal Duquenne to make other films. The actor then starred in 2006 in the thriller The roomwhere he plays a man in a wheelchair who is abused by his parents. After that Pascal Duquenne found with Jaco Van Dormael Mr. Nobody (2010) then the black comedy The entire New Testament (2015) in supporting roles.
Pascal Duquenne was not satisfied with cinema and developed himself a true artistic sense. During a magazine interview RELAUNCH in 2007, he said:
I do cinema, theatre, music, sport, painting, engraving and contemporary dance. That’s all I like to do.
Pascal Duquenne then, for example, trampled theatrical tables writing and performing songs within the Créahm (Creation Center for the Disabled). And he must not have been too bored in recent years thanks to music. He actually trained with five other musicians The eighth group. Together they performed several times in Belgium. We leave you with these few photos of one of their tests, published on the account Facebook of the group.
Source: Cine Serie
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