A Touching, Sensitive, and Funny Film

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2015)

The Intouchables is a French comedy/biography from 2011 and stars François Cluzet (Tell No One, Little White Lies, French Kiss) and Omar Sy (X-Men Days of Future Past, Jurassic World, Samba). It was written and directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano (Samba, Those Happy Days, Tellement proches).
This film is about a quadriplegic millionaire named Philippe (François Cluzet) who hires a lower-class man from the projects called Driss(Omar Sy). With help from Driss, Philippe finds humour in his situation and Driss reminds him how to appreciate life again through setting him up on dates, listening to funk music and even giving him a joint.
This film is propelled by the performances by François Cluzet and Omar Sy. François gives his performance purely through dialogue and facial movements. Surprisingly he gives a great performance filled with emotion and humour. Omar Sy plays an incredibly likable character who can really make you laugh at points and at others make you feel very compassionate about his issues. Whenever the two are on screen together it is gold. I would compare their chemistry to those of buddy cop movies although this relationship is a lot deeper.
Another aspect of this film that I admired was the dialogue. Since there is no real plot other than the story of two men, the film is carried by a lot of good dialogue. For example, when the two are looking at a piece of art, Philippe asks Driss why he thinks people are interested in art, Driss replies with because it's a business when Philippe tells him it's because it's the only thing one leaves behind.
This film is basically the French version of Driving Miss Daisy, that is not to say this film is bad. This film's strongest points are writing and acting, but after that it's pretty thin. Directing or cinematography isn't anything special and the piano soundtrack sounds like something that would be added to an amateur short film. Yet this is still a heartwarming film it seems like it is a little overrated.