Éric Toledano
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
I checked the production materials for “The Intouchables” and failed to find confirmation that any of this was inspired by 1987’s “Disorderlies,” in which the Fat Boys push old Ralph Bellamy around to his heart’s content.
Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe points out that "The Intouchables" resembles 1987's "Disorderlies," in which the Fat Boys shared their love of life and rap with wheelchair-bound millionaire Ralph Bellamy.
If the plot of Me Before You sounds familiar, it is: A 2011 French film, The Intouchables, was about a wealthy playboy who, after an accident leaves him a bitter quadriplegic, hires a poor but upbeat young man from the projects as his constant companion.
The set-up is oddly reminiscent of Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s “The Intouchables,” except that the relationship it focuses on is between a man and a woman rather than two guys.
To be fair, there of echoes of many other more edifying sources—“An Affair to Remember,” “ Pretty Woman ,” the French import “ The Intouchables ”—that reverberate through this “ Beauty and the Beast ” fantasy as it unfolds in a quaint English village.
Imagine “The Intouchables” with more romance and less chemistry, crossbred with a far tamer version of “Pretty Woman” so lacking in eroticism that its PG-13 rating seems unduly harsh, and you’re halfway toward picturing Thea Sharrock ’s “ Me Before You .”
Parte The Faul in Our Stars, parte Pretty Woman y parte The Intouchables (de Francia), Me Before You trae a la mesa ingredientes de multiples filmes que vinieron antes de ella.
Trading Places (1983)
Directed by John Landis
influenced The Intouchables (2011)
Characters Themes Plot
A 30-years-younger Eddie Murphy -- circa "Trading Places" -- might work, but unless Hollywood has a functioning Wayback Machine, I don't see him taking the part.
From “It Happened One Night” to “Trading Places,” it’s yet another entry in the category of “rich people need ordinary folks to show them how to live it up.”
The two generate such fun and good will in this Gallic " Driving Miss Daisy " (or " Trading Places ," " Scent of a Woman ," ad nauseam) that you can almost forgive the film's breezy racial stereotyping, cheap comedy and phony-baloney attitudes toward art, culture, class, and quadriplegia.
The premise of the French film "The Intouchables" is like a mash-up of " The King's Speech " and " Driving Miss Daisy ," with a dose of "Trading Places" for good measure.
The storyline follows the formula where opposites forge a friendship, here between a loaded white aristocrat and a Senegalese immigrant from the projects with a prison record—it’s a status quo Trading Places.
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Directed by Bruce Beresford
influenced The Intouchables (2011)
Themes Plot
It’s no surprise that a Hollywood remake is in the works; this is thoroughly commercial moviemaking that calls to mind an array of high-concept crowd-pleasers, including “Driving Miss Daisy” and “Scent of a Woman.”
The two generate such fun and good will in this Gallic " Driving Miss Daisy " (or " Trading Places ," " Scent of a Woman ," ad nauseam) that you can almost forgive the film's breezy racial stereotyping, cheap comedy and phony-baloney attitudes toward art, culture, class, and quadriplegia.
It's easy to make a cynical diagram of Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano's The Intouchables: Take the basic premise of Driving Miss Daisy and move it to contemporary Paris.
The premise of the French film "The Intouchables" is like a mash-up of " The King's Speech " and " Driving Miss Daisy ," with a dose of "Trading Places" for good measure.
In other words, this is "Pushing Mr. Philippe," a movie to be placed somewhere on the scale between "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."
A scene in which he dances (as if to give legs to the wheelchair-bound Philippe) puts one in mind of Sidney Poitier in To Sir, With Love, and his performance portends an equally dynamic career.
Of course, it’s more directly a remake of the French film The Intouchables , which itself was inspired by a documentary about a wealthy Parisian quadriplegic who hired an unqualified French-Algerian ex-con as his caregiver; the inauthenticity that plagues The Upside could have crept in at any point during that game of telephone (and plenty of people thought The Intouchables was shallow glurge to begin with).
The 2011 French inspirational drama The Intouchables , based loosely on the real-life story of wealthy quadriplegic businessman Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and his caregiver, was an international sensation and remains one of the most successful movies of all time in its native country, so the only surprising thing about the new American remake The Upside is that it took so long (there have already been versions made in India and Argentina).
Fans of the original film, 2011/12 French film The Intouchables , will likely take a keen interest in how this remake compares to the original.
In “The Upside,” which is based on the 2011 French hit “The Intouchables,” which was inspired by a true story, Bryan Cranston’s Phillip is a billionaire business genius who was paralyzed from the neck down after a reckless paragliding adventure.
The opening credits for “The Upside” say it was “inspired by” a true story, but its real inspiration is the 2011 Gallic hit “The Intouchables,” one of the most lucrative French films ever made.
That came across like complaining that few newspaper reporters in Rome are as gorgeous as Gregory Peck is in Roman Holiday.
This is the type of film French/Algerian star Daniel Auteuil has specialized in in France, with films like "My Best Friend," "Conversations with My Gardener" and "The Eighth Day," mismatching an advantaged Frenchman with a social inferior, and the racial difference introduced here may make some American critics call 'foul' citing the 'Magical Negro,' but the character of Driss isn't played for sentiment.
He reminded me of the African immigrant played by Souleymane Sy Savane in Ramin Bahrani's " Goodbye Solo " — a film that avoided the traps that "The Intouchables" falls into.
(Durpaire adds that if “The Intouchables” is offensive, so were the “Beverly Hills Cop” movies.)
When it comes to comedy, the French like nothing better than a buddy movie, especially if the story revolves around an odd couple: My Best Friend (Daniel Auteuil and Dany Boon), Après Vous (Daniel Auteuil and José Garcia), The Closet (Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu)…and we’re only at the “A’s”!
When it comes to comedy, the French like nothing better than a buddy movie, especially if the story revolves around an odd couple: My Best Friend (Daniel Auteuil and Dany Boon), Après Vous (Daniel Auteuil and José Garcia), The Closet (Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu)…and we’re only at the “A’s”!
Driss listens to music in a bathtub just like Julia Roberts does in “Pretty Woman” — he even goes on a little shopping spree.
When it comes to comedy, the French like nothing better than a buddy movie, especially if the story revolves around an odd couple: My Best Friend (Daniel Auteuil and Dany Boon), Après Vous (Daniel Auteuil and José Garcia), The Closet (Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu)…and we’re only at the “A’s”!
In adapting Marcus Sakey’s source novel, Kelly Masterson (“Snowpiercer”) contributes few fresh ideas, leaving it to Genz to ride to his rescue accompanied by a uniformly strong cast that includes Oscar-nominee Tom Wilkinson as a rogue cop seeking revenge against a ruthless dealer (Sam Spruell) he blames for his daughter’s overdose, and Omar Sy (“The Intouchables”) as a high-class crime lord improbably named Genghis Khan.
It’s certainly not as racist as Queen Latifah funking up Steve Martin in “Bringing Down the House,” or Michael Oher becoming the shallow supporting character in his own story in “The Blind Side.”
Movies about female friendships usually wind up being weepy downers (see: "Beaches," "Steel Magnolias," or "Thelma and Louise") and movies about male friendships have to be dressed up with action (see: buddy-cop movies like "Lethal Weapon") or outrageous comedy (see: "The Hangover" or any Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor movie).
And in The Intouchables, the fast friends drive around in a fast car, eluding cops and just missing pedestrians, like partners in a Seine-side Lethal Weapon.
Yet after living in the afterglow of similar themed films such as The Theory of Everything , The Sessions and The Intouchables, it begs to question just what can Breathe represent to make it stand apart from other films of its ilk?
It’s not even as moving as similar paralysis films like The Intouchables and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly but it is more suspenseful.
This is the type of film French/Algerian star Daniel Auteuil has specialized in in France, with films like "My Best Friend," "Conversations with My Gardener" and "The Eighth Day," mismatching an advantaged Frenchman with a social inferior, and the racial difference introduced here may make some American critics call 'foul' citing the 'Magical Negro,' but the character of Driss isn't played for sentiment.
Because, not unlike the far-catchier Reservoir Dogs , the title's meaning is, well, a mystery.