Untouchables

Production and year: France, 2011 Original title: Intouchables Genre: Drama, Comedy Directed by: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano Screenplay by: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano Cast: François Cluzet, Omar Sy Medical theme: disability, care for people with disabilities, quadriplegia Description: A popular film about disability, friendship, and self-sacrifice that has been widely promoted, particularly through word of mouth, and which challenges the notion that "money isn’t everything." In a nutshell: Two people. Philippe, a disabled man who spends his life in a wheelchair controlled by his chin. It doesn’t matter that he has millions in the bank, lives in a wealthy house with staff, and has cars in the courtyard of which only a few dozen are driven around the world; it doesn’t matter that he can fulfill every material whim, but money and medicine are powerless against the quadriplegia he suffers from. Drissa? Recruited as Philippe’s personal assistant, a Black man from the poor slums who recently got out of prison, he has no plans for the future and intends to live solely on welfare. Between these two representatives of completely opposite worlds, an incredible, irrational friendship develops, through the lens of which Nakache and Tolando tell the story of a human tragedy with a sincere smile. The film is also a medical-psychological study of both an incurable disease and interpersonal relationships, as well as the inner transformation of a healthy person fleeing from problems seemingly unrelated to him, under the influence of direct contact with a disabled person. Philippe—he can only move his head; his body is limp and, without being secured by special straps, sags involuntarily under the force of gravity; he is unable to take care of his own bodily needs, and all daily activities depend on others. Drissa—feeling his freedom, living day to day, paying no attention to social problems, waiting, like so many others, for government benefits on which he intends to survive. Friendship—a feeling that crept in suddenly and developed just as quickly between them. It was this that changed them. It was... a remedy for each of them. Incredible in terms of plot, the impressions and feelings it evokes in the reader. And on top of that, the medical aspect, which is particularly noteworthy. I highly recommend it!!!