The Intouchables
Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano
The story: They are two men with nothing in common. Philippe (Francois Cluzet) is rich and lives in a sprawling Parisian mansion while Driss (Omar Sy) is an immigrant from Senegal who wants to live off welfare benefits. But when the quadriplegic Philippe interviews candidates for the job of live-in caregiver, he decides to take a chance on Driss.

There have been movies about odd couple pairings even before The Odd Couple (1968).
The story goes something like this: Two people of the chalk-and-cheese variety find themselves thrown together when normally, they might not have much to do with each other. They clash, they bicker – and eventually realise that each has been changed a little by the other person.
Even though The Intouchables is based on a true story, writer-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano have given it that familiar shape and structure.
They have also, presumably, accentuated the differences between the two men.
So Philippe is not just rich but also cultured. He has expensive tastes, collects art and uses literary language when he writes to Eleonore, a woman he is
interested in but has never met. In contrast, Driss has had a run-in with the law, flirts shamelessly with women and is aghast at the sums of money that Philippe nonchalantly splurges on art.
Some of the ways in which they bond feel lazily familiar. For example, a scene of Philippe and Driss attending the opera brought on flashbacks of Julia Roberts getting introduced to opera by Richard Gere in Pretty Woman (1990).
But since high culture is not necessarily superior to low, the film-makers also balance that out with Driss livening a classical music soiree by throwing in some dance music by Earth, Wind & Fire.
And so, little by little, Philippe gets back his zest for life.
The movie does veer a little too close to cliche at times, though, to its credit, it does pull back before things get too sappy.
It is also a good thing that it has Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy in the lead roles.
Cluzet, from French thriller Tell No One (2006), brings a quiet dignity to the role of the quadriplegic Philippe and his reason for picking Driss to be his caregiver is because Driss does not mollycoddle him.
Sy, seen in 2009 French comedy Micmacs, meanwhile, has an irrepressible joy and confidence about him that is thoroughly infectious (he won the Cesar Award for Best Actor for his portrayal). If anything though, he is almost a little too sunny for someone who is from the wrong side of the tracks.
The Intouchables has been a roaring success in its native France and it was the most-watched film there last year.
While it is fairly entertaining, it has made me curious about the 2003 documentary A La Vie, A La Mort (In Life, Death) which chronicled the relationship between the real-life Philippe and his caregiver Abdel.
Would real life or reel life be more touching?
(ST)