French film finesses its way out of cliché

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Alliance Driss (Cv�sar winner Omar Sy, left), pulls Philippe (Franv�ois Cluzet) in The Intouchables.

Upon its arrival in North America, this hit film from France came with a surplus of baggage, perceived as a naive, almost retro take on race relations.

It's the story of Driss (Omar Sy), an angry young Senegalese black man with a criminal past. He applies for the job of caring for Philippe (Franßois Cluzet) a wealthy aristocrat rendered quadriplegic after a paragliding accident. Driss does not expect to get the job, but he needs to prove he's been looking for a job to get his unemployment insurance.

He gets the position anyway, and in evaluating the resulting relationship, North American critics have weighed in with patronizing comparisons to movies such as Driving Miss Daisy and The Legend of Bagger Vance (wherein a "magical black man" teaches life lessons to a callow white protagonist).

I would suggest the movie may be best appreciated as the story of two men from wildly different backgrounds whose differences give each an equilibrium that was previously lacking. If the racial dynamic raised all sorts of red flags in North America, it seems to have been less of a consideration in France: In the true story on which the film is based, Driss is an Arab, not Senegalese.

I'm guessing the nationality was changed to exploit the considerable screen charisma of Omar Sy, who renders a lively performance as Driss. Of course, the screenplay by co-directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano gives Sy a lot of comic/dramatic material with which to work.

Philippe's motivations for hiring Driss seem mysterious, but are crystallized in a scene in which he is warned by his brother that street-tough guys "have no pity." That, it turns out, is precisely why Philippe hired him.

But there are compromises to be made, and to the movie's credit, both men are enriched by contact with the other. Philippe opens himself to unexplored pleasures including marijuana, erotic ear massage and Earth Wind & Fire. Driss enjoys reciprocal exposure to Vivaldi, hang-gliding and, duh, living like an indulged king.

This kind of comedic cultural exchange would seem a cliché in a Hollywood film, but the French rendition steamrolls over the potential for embarrassment on the finesse of its cast. Sy is a charmer: he won a French César award as best actor, besting Jean Dujardin of The Artist, on the strength of his headstrong portrayal of the troubled Driss. But it would not be as impressive if not for the understated counterpoint provided by Cluzet (of the French thriller Tell No One), who gives the film its soulful centre.

For my money, the most objectionable thing about The Intouchables is its title, which doesn't translate into anything remotely pertinent to the movie I saw.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Other voices

Selected excerpts from reviews of The Intouchables:

A box office phenomenon in France, this crowd-pleasing drama is based on a true story but sticks closely to the template for a Hollywood buddy movie.

-- J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

More than a little unrealistic.

-- Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

The Intouchables works as a crowd-pleaser not because it's true, but because it's a plausible enchantment.

-- Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail

The Intouchables is actually quite touchable.

-- Tom Long, Detroit News

Some of the elements in the film are inexplicable and some are undeveloped, but there are a handful of nicely crafted set pieces.

-- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Sweet and irresistibly subversive, showing why charismatic Omar Sy won France's prestigious Cesar as Best Actor over Jean Dujardin (The Artist).

-- Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate

Although it is sentimental and formulaic, complete with music and fashion montages, hookers and pot-smoking along the Seine, something about The Intouchables transcends cliché.

-- Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

What it provides is biting wit, poignancy and, forsaking some structural nuisances, the summer's best bromance.

-- Sara Maria Vizcarrondo, Boxoffice Magazine

The easygoing posture and strong casting keep The Intouchables from stumbling over vexing questions of race, class and disability.

-- Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

-- Compiled by Shane Minkin

Movie review

The Intouchables

Starring Omar Sy and Franßois Cluzet

Globe

14A

112 minutes

31Ñ2 stars out of five

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 13, 2012 D4