An Endearing Crowd-Pleaser with a Touchy Subtext

The Intouchables

*** out of ****

Directed by: Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano

Starring: François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny, Audrey Fleurot and Clotilde Mollet

Running time: 112 minutes

When it comes to The Intouchables’ international box office take, this French feel-good crowd-pleaser lives up to its title. It spent 10 weeks at the top of the France box office, topped Germany’s charts for more than two months, and recently became the highest-grossing film in history not to be in the English language.

Now, The Intouchables touches down in North America in the heat of summer, and audiences that do not mind the overarching stereotypes will likely embrace it.

See, the film is about the relationship between Driss (Omar Sy), a smooth-talking black man from France’s crowded projects, and Philippe (François Cluzet), a wealthy white quadriplegic who lives in a pristine, gold-draped mansion in the heart of Paris.

Driss tries to get welfare benefits when he shows up for the interview at Philippe’s mansion, not attracted by social work and home care.

Nevertheless, Philippe hires Driss, hoping that the crude-speaking and riotously lively man will not give him pity and compassion as he lies around in a wheelchair, a victim of a paragliding accident. 

He sees in Driss a competitor, and more importantly, a friend. The two crack jokes, occasionally get high and become inseparable.

The duo’s blossoming camaraderie is based on a true-life relationship; although the film’s finest qualities –brilliant performances and sharp direction, among them – are undermined, by what filmmaker Spike Lee termed a “’Magic Negro’ figure.”

This character is one of African descent whose role is to be subservient to a white character and help him or her fulfill their purpose or destiny.

Driss, for instance, is less defined as an individual than he is as Philippe’s helper and friend. Throughout the film, he helps Philippe rediscover the joy of Paris by taking him on impromptu journeys through the city and beyond. He also helps him commit to a woman that Philippe is having an epistolary relationship with.

On the contrary, writer/directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano bring less focus to Driss’s relationships with people from his family. These minor characters mainly function to keep Driss at a vulnerable distance from the protagonist.

However, besides this worrisome subtext, whereby more credence is given to the rich, white character than his ex-con companion, The Intouchables is a terrifically likable piece of feel-goodery due to the two magnetic lead performances.

Sy is a pompous treat as Driss, bringing forth with equal conviction the character’s sly, animated tomfoolery with moments of genuine emotional anguish. It is a superb balancing act.

As his friend (and occasional foe), Cluzet has a deadpan wit but anguished soul. He keeps toe-to-toe with Sy’s antics despite being confined to a chair, unable to move any part below his neck.

Even when problematic stereotypes invade the story world, The Intouchables rarely stops being incessantly charming, a top-notch buddy flick that is crisply filmed, tenderly acted, and quite often hilarious.