“Sometimes you have to reach into someone else’s world to find what’s missing in your own.”
This is what the 2011 French comedy film The Intouchables directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache about; to leave from your comfort zone and go into the wilderness of your intuition to discover yourself. An unlikely true story of friendship between two men who should never have met, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo (born Feb 14, 1951), a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and his carer original Algerian, Abdel Yasmin Sellou for ten years.
The film begins at night in Paris when Driss (Omar Sy) is driving Philippe's Maserati Quattroporte at high speed with Phillipe (François Cluzet) in the passenger seat. They are soon chased and caught by the police. Driss claims to the police that he is trying to get urgent medical attention for Phillipe; Philippe pretends to have a stroke and the fooled police eventually escort them to the hospital. The two men are jubilant. As the police leave them at the hospital and they drive off.
The film begins at night in Paris when Driss (Omar Sy) is driving Philippe's Maserati Quattroporte at high speed with Phillipe (François Cluzet) in the passenger seat. They are soon chased and caught by the police. Driss claims to the police that he is trying to get urgent medical attention for Phillipe; Philippe pretends to have a stroke and the fooled police eventually escort them to the hospital. The two men are jubilant. As the police leave them at the hospital and they drive off.
The story of their friendship is then told as a flashback.
Phillipe is a rich quadriplegic living in a mansion in Paris and he is interviewing for a live-in carer. Driss, a candidate who has no ambitions to get hired. He is just there to get a signature showing he was interviewed and rejected in order to continue to receive his welfare benefits. He is told to come back the next morning to get his signed letter. Driss goes back to the tiny flat that he shares with his extended family in a bleak Parisian suburb. His aunt, exasperated from not hearing from him for six months and orders him to leave the flat.
The next day, Driss returns to Philippe's mansion and learns to his surprise that he is on a trial period for the live-in carer job. He learns the extent of Philippe's disability and then accompanies Philippe in every moment of his life, discovering with astonishment a completely different lifestyle. A friend of Philippe's reveals Driss's criminal record which includes six months in jail for robbery. Philippe states he does not care about Driss's past as long as he does his current job properly.
Over time, Driss and Philippe become closer. Driss dutifully takes care of his boss who frequently suffers from phantom pain. Philippe discloses to Driss that he became disabled following a paragliding accident in 1993 and that his wife died three years later of cancer without bearing children. Gradually, Philippe is led by Driss to put some order in his private life, including being more strict with his adopted daughter Elisa who behaves like a spoiled child with the staff. Driss learns about fine art, opera and responsibility from Philippe and Philippe is transformed by Driss to rediscovers his sense of adventure, hope and wonder in life. Together, they express a view of the world as full of possibility and life with opportunities to move forward.
An incredibly uplifting story about friendship, trust and human possibility that based upon a true story and real characters. The film ends reveal Philippe who is now his principal residence in the region of Essaouira in Morocco, is happily remarried and had two adopted children while Abdel is married with three children in Algeria, where he runs a poultry farm. The credits show Abdel Sellou and Philippe Pozzo di Borgo in reality and they are still in contact till today.
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| PHILIPPE POZZO DI BORGO & ABDEL YASMIN SELLOU |
Over time, Driss and Philippe become closer. Driss dutifully takes care of his boss who frequently suffers from phantom pain. Philippe discloses to Driss that he became disabled following a paragliding accident in 1993 and that his wife died three years later of cancer without bearing children. Gradually, Philippe is led by Driss to put some order in his private life, including being more strict with his adopted daughter Elisa who behaves like a spoiled child with the staff. Driss learns about fine art, opera and responsibility from Philippe and Philippe is transformed by Driss to rediscovers his sense of adventure, hope and wonder in life. Together, they express a view of the world as full of possibility and life with opportunities to move forward.
An incredibly uplifting story about friendship, trust and human possibility that based upon a true story and real characters. The film ends reveal Philippe who is now his principal residence in the region of Essaouira in Morocco, is happily remarried and had two adopted children while Abdel is married with three children in Algeria, where he runs a poultry farm. The credits show Abdel Sellou and Philippe Pozzo di Borgo in reality and they are still in contact till today.
Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms
and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it,
and live along some distant day into the answer.
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