Film review – Untouchable

John Archibald says Untouchable is a brilliant, laugh out loud, uplifting film - go and see it.

Posted by Elderjuice on October 17, 2012. Filed under Culture. Posted with the tags:Film Review, Untouchable
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François Cluzet and Omar Sy in Untouchable

Untouchable is a brilliant, laugh out loud, uplifting film. Go and see it.

The film, in French with English subtitles, tells the story of Philippe, a French aristocrat made quadriplegic following a paragliding accident, who hires a Muslim ex-con, Driss, to be his carer, with far reaching and hilarious consequences.

Two outstanding performances by the French actors Francois Cluzet and Senegal-born Omar Sy will doubtless lead to Oscar nominations, although foreign language films seldom win the big Oscars. It also features the voluptuous and delectable Audrey Fleurot, the sultry, ginger-haired lawyer in the French detective TV series Spiral, as Philippe’s assistant.

Inspired by the book A Second Wind by Philippe Pozzo di Borgo the second son of a French Duke and an ex-Director of the Pommery champagne house, the film follows the developing relationship and unlikely friendship between the irreverent, edgy, sex-mad Driss and the aristocratic Philippe.

Driss’s refusal to pity or sympathise with Philippe slowly brings the still grieving, widowed Philippe out of his ascetic depression and into the real other-world of Driss – Paris’s North-African ghettos, immigration, dysfunctional families, car chases, cannabis and good time girls.

The dialogue is sharp and witty with moments of real pathos. It is a challenging film – there are times when you will find yourself squirming with embarrassment and saying, ‘no, he’s not really doing that is he?’ – but by the end you will have face -ache from all the smiling.

An English-language version starring Colin Firth as Philippe is planned, but it is unlikely to hit the heights that the original does. Go now.