Film Review: Untouchable

Director: Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano

A French language film, it was released back in 2011 at the Tokyo Film Festival where it won the top honour whilst lead actors Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy jointly won the Best Actor prize. From there it impressed critics and the public alike in France so much so that Omar Sy won the Cesar Award for Best Actor ahead of Jean Dujardin for The Artist in February 2012. The love for this film meant it has been released around the world and is expected to do well during awards season at the start of 2013.

Phillippe (Francois Cluzet) and Driss (Omar Sy)

Phillippe (Francois Cluzet) is a wealthy quadriplegic who can only move his head so needs to be cared for and fed, on finding a replacement he interviews Driss (Omar Sy) who only turns up so he can get a signature for his benefit claim to say he applied for job but didn't get it. Driss' jokes about classic music impress Phillippe so he hires him. Driss is an African immigrant who has had a few run-ins with the police whilst Phillippe is a highly intelligent and charismatic millionaire. Over the course of the film an unlikely bond is built between the characters despite their incredibly different backgrounds.

Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy are both absolutely superb in this movie, the bond that grows between them seems truly real and they seemed very at ease in each other's company. Sy produces much of the films funny moments and is a natural showman whilst Cluzet manages to catch you off-guard with a few slightly more subtle jokes of his own. They should both be highly considered for awards in January.

In the mountains watching the paragliders

The main idea of the film is that Driss helps Phillippe in a physical way as his carer whilst Phillippe helps Driss in a socio-economic way. They quickly learn from each other in many different ways, one of the main ones that stick out in my mind is Phillippe's birthday where he introduces Driss to classical music.

Naturally a foreign film with this kind of success doesn't go un-noticed in America so a remake has been planned by the Weinstein Company with Colin Firth set to take up the role of Phillippe, I'd be shocked if the remake even comes close in comparison to this film. This film only recently came out so I implore you to go out and see it, you won't be disappointed.

4/4 funny yet moving film with two superb acting performances