Best Buddies --- Intouchables --- (Film Review 4)

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A Maserati Quattroporte is racing through Paris by night. It doesn't take long until the police notice and chase it. The young, black driver is betting 100 Euro that he can escape, the middle-aged, white man in the passenger seat is only smiling. The driver then changes his mind, lets the police stop him and bets 200 Euro that they'll soon escort them with blaring sirens to a hospital. While a policeman is searching him roughly, the passenger has an epileptic fit, the driver starts shouting that they may be responsible for the man's immediate death. He's allowed to get back into the car, they're escorted to a hospital as he had foreseen. But when the policemen run in to fetch the emergency service, the Maserati roars away into the night. It stops at the roadside somewhere and the two men nearly die laughing. The elderly man begins to drool and the young driver wipes his mouth. The two men are Philippe and Driss, different in every conceivable aspect. In flashbacks we learn how they met. Philippe is a French multimillionaire and educated in the fine arts. Driss is of Algerian descent living with his numerous family in a crowded apartment in one of the Parisian suburbs. He's a ragamuffin and occasional crook involved in whatever shady dealings go on among his mates. After a paragliding accident Philippe has become a quadriplegic meaning that his body from the neck downwards is dead so-to-speak. He depends on helpers and assistants for each and every move and bodily function. When a new personal caregiver is needed, Driss presents himself. He doesn't know what the job is about and he doesn't care. He's just been released from prison and needs three rejections from potential employers to get his dole money. Philippe would be his No 3. Something in this insolent youngster catches Philippe's attention and to everyone's surprise he engages him for a trial period. A well-meaning friend warns Philippe, "You should know that the boys from the suburbs know no pity." He replies, "That's just what I want, no pity". The film shows how the mere employer-employee relationship transmogrifies into a genuine friendship that affects and changes both men. The film is based on the real life story of the French aristocrat Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, former boss of the champagne dynasty Pommery and his Algerian caregiver Abdel Sellou. Philippe Pozzo di Borgo was asked several times for the permission to turn his life story into a film, but he always denied fearing it would become too sentimental. The film director duo of Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache finally changed his mind and this is a good thing. With such a story and brilliant actors what could have gone wrong? Imagine an actor who is in nearly every shot but who has only his face to express emotions. Francois Cluzet does that superbly. He was nominated for the César Award for Best Actor (the French Oscar) but lost it to Omar Sy as Driss who - as everybody is ready to maintain - deserves it. The brown Algerian Sellou has become the black Senegalese Omar the reason being that Sy is a well-known actor and comedian in France. You won’t find the film running in a cinema near you any more (it‘s from 2011). So get the DVD! I can't imagine that you won't like it. You'll be well entertained and all your health troubles will appear in a new perspective. In future, you'll think twice before starting to moan. Trailer: