The Intouchables
2011 · Directed by Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano
Original language: French
- drama
- comedy
The story
A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-washed Parisian interiors and sweeping wide shots of the city and its grand Second Empire rooms, with a light that feels generous and unhurried. The camera moves with easy, buoyant energy, cutting between elegant stillness in a gilded apartment and the restless streets of the banlieue, and the score is bright and melodic, rising into swells of piano and strings that give even quiet scenes a glow. The mood is warm and buoyant, with a current of tenderness running under the humour: friendship with an easy, teasing rhythm and a gradual softening between two men who start out worlds apart. It suits a relaxed Sunday afternoon, a comfort rewatch, or an evening when you want something uplifting without being saccharine. Its emotional register is light but sincere, and its comedy is frequent and friendly, with brief moments of sadness around disability and loss handled with restraint. Violence is absent, language and crude jokes appear, and there is one brief sexual reference, but nothing graphic. It is for viewers who want an inspiring, humane story about unlikely friendship and enjoy character-driven comedy with heart.
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