Day 20/21 - The Intouchables (2011)

When was the last time a film took the time to really allow you to know a character? [The Intouchables.]

Name a film about a tetraplegic and his helper which makes you feel good about life and all it has to offer. [The Intouchables.]

When was the last time you felt two characters learn to love each other, and you felt it too? [The Intouchables.]

When was the last time characters laughed on the screen, truly enjoying themselves, and you laughed with them? [The Intouchables.]

Driss (Omar Sy) is tall, handsome street-wise, a thief, with limited education, from Senegal, and with a laugh and a smile that lights up the screen. He also is willing to learn, willing to grow. He cares about family and feels protective about the people he loves.

Philipe (François Cluzet), a wealthy tetraplegic who has no feeling from the neck down because of a paragliding accident, hires Driss as his caretaker. He is trapped in a wheel chair existence. He can move his head but that is all. A widower, he wants the life he had--fast speed, great thoughts, even a female companion.

The two men start as unlikely companions, but over the course of the film we watch their relationship grow into a kind of love. Can two men love each other in a non-sexual way? Uniquivocally, yes.

Driss drives Phllipe fast. Philipe teaches Driss about art and Driss responds by painting for which he eventually makes 11,000 euros. They paraglide even though Driss is against it. Phillipe teaches Driss about classical music, while Driss teaches Philipe to appreciate dancing and pop music.

Two of the most joyful scenes in the film are, first, after Philipe is thrown a birthday party. After the other guests leave, Philipe has the chamber orchestra play classical music for Driss. He recognizes some of the pieces because of pop culture and advertising. Driss then plays his music (Earth, Wind & Fire) and does a dance--one of the most memorable and joyful dances I've seen on the screen. The actor Sy brings charm and laughter to his character. The second scene is later when the two are going paragliding. Their laughter and enthusiasm is totally contagious and the audience responded in kind.

“This is a based on a true story” says the advertising and the real life inspirations are shown at the end, and was according to Wikipedia inspired by a documentary the two directors had seen in 2004 and from the book You Changed My Life, by Abdel Sellou. within 9 weeks after its premiere in France, it became the second most successful French film of all time.  

I felt a definite high as I walked out of the theatre.

The Intouchables. (2011) *****