The Eighth Day (1996)

Name: The Eighth Day
Director: Jaco Van Dormael
Released: 1996

Georges has Down syndrome, living at a mental-institution, Harry is a busy businessman, giving lectures for young aspiring salesmen. He is successful in his business life, but his social life is a disaster since his wife left him and took their two children with her. This weekend his children came by train to meet him, but Harry, working as always, forgot to pick them up. Neither his wife or his children want to see him again and he is driving around on the country roads, anguished and angry. He almost runs over Georges, on the run from the institution since everybody else went home with their parents except him, whose mother is dead. Harry tries to get rid of Georges but he won't leave his new friend. Eventually a special friendship forms between the two of them, a friendship which makes Harry a different person.

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What critics compared The Eighth Day to

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

Directed by Tyler Nilson

Plot

This quirky indie buddy movie’s basic premise strongly recalls the largely forgotten Belgian dramedy The Eighth Day , for which Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne (who likewise has Down syndrome) jointly won Cannes’ Best Actor prize back in 1996.

avclub.com ↗

The Intouchables (2011)

Directed by Éric Toledano

This is the type of film French/Algerian star Daniel Auteuil has specialized in in France, with films like "My Best Friend," "Conversations with My Gardener" and "The Eighth Day," mismatching an advantaged Frenchman with a social inferior, and the racial difference introduced here may make some American critics call 'foul' citing the 'Magical Negro,' but the character of Driss isn't played for sentiment.

Reeling Reviews • Jan 10, 2020

reelingreviews.com ↗

Green Book (2018)

Directed by Peter Farrelly

Themes

Whatever the set-up or setting, the best road movies - The Sure Thing, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Midnight Run, The Eighth Day (Le Huitième Jour) - all have one thing in common: no matter how many times you've taken the trip, you always see something new along the way.

RTÉ

rte.ie ↗

Mr. Nobody (2009)

Directed by Jaco Van Dormael

Visuals

This is only the third feature from Belgian director Jaco van Dormael , and his first since 1996’s “The Eighth Day.” It’s hugely ambitious, with the nature of reality itself at stake, and a little too sprawling at times.

Marc Mohan | Special to The Oregonian, Marc Mohan, Special to The Oregonian • The Oregonian/OregonLive • Oct 30, 2013

oregonlive.com ↗

Von Dormal's ("The Eighth Day") visual style is incredibly inventive, using black and white, backwards motion, slo motion and special effects to provoke different emotional reactions.

Reeling Reviews • Jan 10, 2020

reelingreviews.com ↗

Writer/director Jaco Van Dormael (The Eighth Day) allows camera tricks and provocative theories about time to come hurling at us fast and furiously here -- almost like a Terrence Malik film on speed.

Mark Lubischer, Betty Jo Tucker • ReelTalk Reviews

reeltalkreviews.com ↗

Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael, whose concise repertoire includes "The Eighth Day" and "Toto le heros," describes at least three distinct futures for the 9-year-old Nemo.

The Associated Press • The Hollywood Reporter • Sep 25, 2009

hollywoodreporter.com ↗

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