“Le Huitième jour” was marked by the wonderful collaboration between Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne. We take the news of the latter which was revealed thanks to the film by Jaco Van Dormael.
On the eighth day a beautiful unforgettable film
In 1996 Jaco Van Dormael’s second feature film was released, The eighth day. Before that, the Belgian director had already worked with Pascal Duquenne on the occasion of Toto 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 person suffering from Trisomy 21.
The latter wants to find his mother and, after a combination of circumstances, Harry will finally agree to take some time off for Georges. Both will thus get to know each other and a beautiful friendship will be formed.
The Eighth Day ©TF1 Films Production
The eighth day is an extremely touching film because Georges he confronts us with a sad reality, the stigmatization of people with Down syndrome in our society. But Jaco Van Dormael does not fall into misery. On the contrary. His feature film is also very cheerful and funny within particular this replica “My buddy Harry” which carries with it all the emotion of the film.
Cinema, but not only for Pascal Duquenne
With over 3.5 million admissions in France and a male performance award at the Cannes Film Festival for Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne, The eighth day was a great success. Above all, he opened the door to Pascal Duquenne for other films. The actor thus played in 2006 in the thriller The Room, where he plays a man in a wheelchair who is abused by his parents. After which Pascal Duquenne found Jaco Van Dormael with Mr. Nobody (2010) than black comedy The all-new Testament (2015) in supporting roles.
Pascal Duquenne was not content with cinema and developed a real artistic sense. During an interview in the magazine 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 therefore, for example, trod theater boards by writing and performing pieces within the Créahm (creation center for the disabled). And he must not have been bored much in recent years thanks to the music. He has indeed climbed with five other musicians The 8th group. Together, they performed several times in Belgium. We leave you with these few photos of one of their rehearsals, posted on the account Facebook of the group.
