Member review

This award winning French drama-comedy, loosely based on a true story, portrays the journey of an unlikely relationship between Philippe – a rich, middle aged white man who became paralysed from the neck down after a paragliding incident – and Driss – a young, unemployed, black ex-convict, living in the poor French suburbs, hired to become Philippe’s personal assistant.

Untouchable builds up a truly heart-warming friendship between two opposite people who would never usually have met, yet soon come to understand and respect one another to go beyond the ‘employer-employee’ dynamic.

François Cluzet (Philippe) and Omar Sy (Driss) both perfectly executed their role as the two main protagonists of the film, delivering a smooth, believable performance. Omar’s performance was particularly memorable due to his consistent, strong screen presence as he juggled between both comical and serious attitudes with ease through his expressions and dialogue. Omar then went on to be awarded with the César Award for Best Actor, which I personally think was thoroughly deserved.

François delivered an equally impressive performance as a quadriplegic character, despite not being paralysed himself. The characters open-minded attitude leads to the introduction of a new world he never would have normally come across, upon meeting Driss. His performance entices the audience through the character development, as the moody, lost man gradually flourishes as he begins to enjoy the true wonders of life along with his newly acquired close, long-term friend.

Overall, Untouchable depicts an amazing message which can be understood by audiences of many ages, as it uses elements of ‘real world’ problems. Despite being subtitled, viewers become fully immersed into the heart-warming story in minutes. The directors did a great job with this film, so it’s no wonder that it was chosen to be selected as France’s 2012 submission to the Academy Awards for best foreign language film.