My Father the Hero (1991 film)

My Father the Hero (original French title: Mon père, ce héros) is a 1991 French film directed by Gérard Lauzier. An English language remake of the movie was made in 1994 .

The name of the film comes from a famous poem by the French poet Victor Hugo, "Mon père, ce héros," published in 1859.

The story introduces André (Gérard Depardieu), a Frenchman who is divorced from his wife. He takes his beautiful teenage daughter, Véronique (Marie Gillain), on vacation to a paradise island with him. She is desperate to appear as a woman and not a girl, so in order to impress a local boy, she makes up more and more fascinating, yet intriguing stories, starting with André being her lover – a sugar Daddy. André is desperate to make Véronique happy and so plays along with her elaborate games, the stories they make up get increasingly bizarre, funnily consistent.

Filmed on location on Mauritius, the film showcased the talent of rising star Marie Gillain as Véronique, who portrays innocence with a good degree of sensuality, as a typical young teenager, desperate to enter adulthood. She was nominated for a César Award, "Most Promising Actress" for her performance. Depardieu, already an established actor, provides a trademark comical performance as André the 'eager to please' father, doing the unthinkable for his daughter.