dvd of the week
When I saw that The Intouchables was a true story about a quadriplegic, I found other movies to see. I just didn’t want to do the work. And when I tell you that it is in French and subtitled, you may not want to do the work either.
But The Intouchables isn’t work. It’s not a movie about overcoming obstacles. It is a movie about friendship, and the friends just happen to be a quadriplegic and his aid.
Driss (Omar Sy) only interviews to work for Philippe (François Cluzet) because he needs a certain number of interviews to qualify for welfare. But something about Driss’ humor and brashness intrigues Philippe, and he gets the job.
Driss, a tall and handsome Senegalese man, has just gotten out of prison and kicked out of the overcrowded apartment where he lived with his mother and numerous siblings. That the job comes with an enormous bedroom room and enormous bathtub is rather attractive.
Sy’s performance is so charismatic, versatile, and charming that he won a César for Best Actor – France’s Oscar. He beat Jean Dujardin, who won the actual Oscar this year for The Artist. Sy’s is a better performance, but that is only one of many reasons to see The Intouchables.
