Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Intouchables/Intouchables/Untouchable (2011) - Uplifting true-story drama with universal appeal

11/04/2015

The Intouchables/Intouchables/Untouchable (2011) - Uplifting true-story drama with universal appeal

♥♥♥♥♥

3 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Film (lost to The Descendants)
Best Cinematography: Mathieu Vadepied (lost to Phedon Papamichael for The Descendants)
Best Editing: Dorian Rigal-Ansous (lost to The Artist)

+ Best French Movie of the Year

Watch Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache's The Intouchables to get to know these two happy gentlemen

QUICK REVIEW:

A rich man in a wheelchair has grown tired of his usual helpers and so hires an uncouth man from Senegal to be his new caretaker. Though from completely different walks of life, the two develop a strong friendship.

Intouchables has got a great opening 'hook' scene, a handsomely shot car scene, and it continues perfectly as a warm culture clash-themed dramedy about grasping the chances that life affords and embracing life and friendships in general. It is written and directed by Frenchmen Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache (Samba (2014), both), based on a true story. (Critics of the film are often obsessed with the race aspect of the film, which they attack and dislike, and they find that it is of great importance that the real story concerned a French-Algerian caregiver, not a black African as in the film. - But, I say, what does this change matter, really...?)
Intouchables is really funny, and at the same time it manages to tell a strong story with credible, full characters. François Cluzet (Little White Lies/Les Petits Mouchoirs (2010)) and especially a very vivacious Omar Sy (Jurassic World (2015)) in the leads and Anne Le Ny (Attila Marcel (2013)) and Audrey Fleurot (Midnight in Paris (2011)) as the women who surround them have great chemistry and act with aplomb.
The movie has visual panache, cinematography by Mathieu Vadepied (Read My Lips/Sur Mes Lèvres (2001)), nice musical choices and seamless editing by Dorian Rigal-Ansous (Samba).
The Intouchables is a high-concept, feel-good crowd-pleaser, a touching human meeting that is among the year's best films.

Related posts:

Top 10: Best French movies

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Top 10: The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Watch the trailer for the film with English subtitles here

Cost: 10.8 mil. $
Box office: 426.5 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[Untouchables was the most viewed French film in France after 4 weeks. After 16 weeks, a whopping 19 mil. people had seen it in France, where it was #1 for 10 consecutive weeks, setting a new record. It is the highest-grossing movie in a language other than English of all time, beating Spirited Away (2001, 274.9 mil. $), the highest grossing French film of all time and the highest grossing foreign film in North America of 2012. It was #1 for several weeks in a row of European countries and has been seen globally by more than 50 mil. cinema-goers. It grossed 10.1 mil. $ (2.4 % of the total gross) in North America. The 3 biggest markets were France (166.1 mil. $/38.9 %), Germany (79 mil. $/18.5 %) and Spain (21 mil. $/4.9 %). The film was shortlisted for the Best Foreign Film Oscar category. The Intouchables is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes. General audiences are more enthused, lauding the film as the #38 best ever on IMDb's Top 250. A US remake with Colin Firth and Kevin Hart and Tom Shadyac serving as director is presently in the mold.]

What do you think of The Intouchables?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)

11/04/2015

The Intouchables/Intouchables/Untouchable (2011) - Uplifting true-story drama with universal appeal

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (16-24)

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