Jaco Van Dormael | |
|---|---|
 Van Dormael in November 2011 | |
| Born | Jaco Van Dormael (1957-02-09)9 February 1957 (age 68) Ixelles, Belgium |
| Occupation(s) | Director, screenwriter, playwright, producer, cinematographer |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Spouse | Michèle Anne De Mey |
| Relatives | Pierre Van Dormael (brother) |
Jaco Van Dormael (born 9 February 1957) is aBelgian film director, screenwriter and playwright. His films especially focus on a respectful and sympathetic portrayal of people with mental and physicaldisabilities.
Van Dormael spent his childhood travelling around Europe, before going on to study filmmaking at theINSAS in Brussels, where he wrote and directed his first short film,Maedeli la brèche (1981), which received the Honorary Foreign Film Award at theStudent Academy Awards. Van Dormael's feature debut,Toto le héros (1991), won theCaméra d'Or at theCannes Film Festival.
Five years later,Le huitième jour (1996) played at Cannes, where his two leading actors,Daniel Auteuil andPascal Duquenne, were jointly awarded the prize forBest Actor. His third feature film,Mr. Nobody (2009), won sixMagritte Awards, includingBest Film andBest Director.
Jaco Van Dormael was born inIxelles. Belgium, on 9 February 1957 to a Belgian couple. Van Dormael was raised in Germany until age seven, when his family returned to Belgium. At his birth, he had nearly been strangled by the umbilical cord and received an insufficient supply of oxygen.[1] It was feared that he might end upmentally impaired. This trauma may partly account for the recurring themes in his films, which explore the worlds of people with mental and physicaldisabilities.
He delighted in working with children and for a while pursued a career as acircus clown. He became a producer of children's entertainment with the Theatre de Galafronie, Theatre Isocele and Theatre de la Guimbarde.[2] After developing an interest in filmmaking, he enrolled at theINSAS in Brussels and later theÉcole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière in Paris.[3] As a children's entertainer, childhood and innocence would become strong themes throughout his work.
In the 1980s, Van Dormael directed a number of short films. While he was a student at theINSAS, he wrote and directed the children's storyMaedeli la brèche.[4] The short film received the Honorary Foreign Film Award at the 1981Student Academy Awards presented by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[5] The following year Van Dormael directedStade 81, a documentary short film about theParalympic Games.[6] He later directed the short filmsLes voisins (1981),L'imitateur (1982),Sortie de secours (1983), andDe boot (1985). His most famous short of the period isÈ pericoloso sporgersi (1984) which won the Grand Prix in international competition at theClermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.[7]
Van Dormael made his feature-length debut in 1991 withToto le héros (Toto the hero), a tale about a man who believes his life was "stolen" from him when he was switched at birth, told in a complex mosaic offlashbacks anddream sequences, sometimes with almost astream of consciousness effect.[8]Toto le héros was ten years in the making as Van Dormael rewrote the script at least eight times. In 1985, two Belgian producers read a version of the script, and over the next five years they raised about $3.5 million, a huge amount for a Belgian production, all in public money from Belgium, the European Community and state television in France and Germany.[9] Van Dormael premieredToto le héros at the1991 Cannes Film Festival, where it won theCamera d'Or.[10] The film was released to the public later that year. Reviewing the film,The New York Times called him "a bright new talent to celebrate".[11] It won fiveJoseph Plateau Awards, theCésar Award for Best Foreign Film, fourEuropean Film Awards, theAndré Cavens Award, and received aBAFTA nomination.[12] Van Dormael's brother,Pierre composed the soundtrack for the film; since their first collaboration in 1980, he has composed the music to all his brother's films.Toto le héros propelled Van Dormael into the international spotlight as both a writer and director.[13]
In 1995, Van Dormael participated in the 1995 projectLumière et compagnie (Lumière and Company). This work is an anthology of very short works (on average 50–60 seconds) contributed by international film directors in which each used the originalAuguste and Louis Lumière's motion picture camera to make his film.[14]The Kiss is the 52-second film made by director Jaco Van Dormael featuring actorPascal Duquenne.[15] At the same time, Van Dormael was at work writing his next major work.
He wanted to make a more linear film thanToto le héros, one which explored the world through the eyes of a man withDown syndrome. Van Dormael's next film,Le huitieme jour (The Eighth Day), accomplishes this with the chance meeting and friendship between Georges, played byPascal Duquenne, and Harry, an unhappy divorced businessman portrayed byDaniel Auteuil.[16] Van Dormael's interest in people with mental and physicaldisabilities stems from an interest in their "talent for life, for loving life, that we often lack."[17] He sought to explore the concept of two worlds (that of Georges and that of Harry) existing simultaneously and yet separately.[17]Le huitième jour premiered at the1996 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for thePalme d'Or.[18] It did win theBest Actor award at the festival, which was given to both Pascal Duquenne and Daniel Auteuil.[19] This was the first time in the festival's history that two actors had shared the award.[19] The film received fourJoseph Plateau Awards[20] and was nominated for aCésar Award and theGolden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[21]Le huitième jour grossed $33 million worldwide on a budget of $5 million, making it Van Dormael's highest-grossing film to that point.[22]
In 1998, Van Dormael participated in the projectSpotlights on a Massacre: 10 Films Against 100 Million Antipersonnel Land Mines, a collection of short films that works as an anti-land mine campaign.[23] The same year he was also a member of the jury at the51st Cannes Film Festival. In 1999,Toto le héros received the Best Belgian Screenplay 1984–1999 Award at the13th Joseph Plateau Awards.
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Van Dormael began seeking to filmMr. Nobody in 2001, an attempt that lasted six years before the director was able to make his English-language feature debut in 2007.[24] This project differed from other Belgian productions in being filmed in English instead of in one of Belgium's main languages.[25] The director explained, "The story came to me in English. It's a story set over very long distances and time frames. One of the strands of the plot is about a kid who must choose between living with his mother in Canada or his father in England. There are also some incredible English-speaking actors I wanted to work with."[25] The production budget forMr. Nobody was €37 million, ranking it the most expensive Belgian film as of 2008.[25] The budget was approved before casting was done, based on the prominence of the director's name and the strength of his script. The film utilizesnonlinear narrative and themany-worlds interpretation to tell the life story of the last mortal on Earth, Nemo Nobody, portrayed byJared Leto.[26]
Mr. Nobody had its world premiere at the66th Venice International Film Festival on 12 September 2009, where it won theBiografilm Award and theGolden Osella for Outstanding Technical Contribution.[27] It received 10 minutes of applause at its premiere at the66th Venice International Film Festival[28][29] and has a 64% approval rating onRotten Tomatoes[30] It received sevenMagritte Award nominations, winningBest Film,Best Director,Best Screenplay,Best Cinematography,Best Original Score andBest Editing.[31] It also won theAndré Cavens Award and thePeople's Choice Award for Best European Film at the23rd European Film Awards.[32]Empire called it "a bit of a mess" but "acult movie in the truest sense of the word".[33]
In August 2014, Van Dormael began filming his fourth feature film,Le Tout Nouveau Testament (The Brand New Testament), withCatherine Deneuve,Yolande Moreau andBenoît Poelvoorde, a comedy in which God (Poelvoorde) is alive and lives in Brussels with his daughter.[34] It premiered at the68th Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2015 to critical acclaim.[35]
Van Dormael's films, while few, have strong common themes between them. They make distinctive use of naivevoiceover and examine the world from an innocent perspective (the young Thomas inToto le héros, the protagonist with a developmental disability ofLe huitième jour, and the unborn child ofMr. Nobody). These characters views are often colorful, imaginative, and somewhat removed from reality, with slight elements ofsurreal imagery used to illustrate their active imaginations.[36]
His films also typically end with a death, which is portrayed not as a tragedy, but as a happy moving on where the deceased looks down happily at the world below.[37]Between Heaven and Earth ends with a birth, but it is similarly handled the passing of a character into a new world. This pattern is continued inMr. Nobody, where two deaths open the film and a unique twist on death at the end of the film conveys a wistful sense of happiness.
Van Dormael makes prominent use of nostalgicstandards music, as well, featuring "Boum!" byCharles Trenet inToto le héros and "Mexico" byLuis Mariano inLe huitième jour as recurring themes.Mr. Nobody used "Mr. Sandman" as its recurring musical theme.[37]
All of Van Dormael's films containsurreal elements. In his first two films, these moments were few, like dancing flowers inToto le héros or Georges flying around the room inLe huitième jour.Mr. Nobody makes much more extensive use of surreal imagery throughout the film.[38]
BothToto le héros andLe huitième jour prominently featured characters withDown syndrome, and portrayed these characters lovingly, emphasizing their characteristic strengths.[39]
| Year | Film | Credited as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | Producer | |||
| 1991 | Toto the Hero | Yes | Yes | ||
| 1992 | Between Heaven and Earth | Story | |||
| 1996 | The Eighth Day | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2007 | La face cachée | Yes | |||
| 2009 | Mr. Nobody | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-producer |
| 2014 | Nicholas on Holiday | Yes | Collaborating writer | ||
| 2015 | The Brand New Testament | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
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| People | |
| Other | |
