CINEMATIC FRENCH FAIRY TALE
The Intouchables, a French movie with English subtitles, is another “feel good” movie, along the lines of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Both are filled with very likable characters and gorgeous backgrounds, Paris in the first, and India in the second. Both have stellar casts, Marigold Hotel’s better known to us in the States. They’re both humorous and touching by turn, and it isn’t until you start to think about them afterwards that you notice the clichés and superficial consideration they give to serious problems, disability in one and the plight of impoverished seniors in the other. Of course, I understand they’re comedies, not social commentary, and both owe more than a little to the fairy tale genre.
The Intouchables (an awkward title, I think) claims to be based on a true story, and I don’t doubt that it is. But I can’t help thinking that the situation between Driss, the felon from Senegal, and Philippe the very rich, quadriplegic Frenchman he goes to work for didn’t progress quite so smoothly and picturesquely as portrayed here. Clichés are thick on the ground; I’ll mention a couple: Driss gives Philippe his first taste of marijuana, and judging by Philippe’s beatific smile somehow that makes up for so many things; Philippe introduces Driss to the world of Art and classical music, and of course, Driss turns out to be a great painter (fooling French collectors into paying large sums of money for his work) and also a great dancer once he changes the music from Mozart and Beethoven to Earth, Wind and Fire -- at which time, all the stuffy people let their hair down and dance. And at the end, the woman Philippe has been sending bad poetry to, who has never seen him or been forewarned about his status, is set up on a date with him. Driss basically abandons his employer, confident that love will find a way and all will turn out well. (This, in spite of the fact that the setting is a restaurant and Philippe has to be carefully fed. Somehow, this unsuspecting woman is supposed to get it all right from the start?)
Jut as with Marigold Hotel, I admit I was charmed with the French movie as I was watching it. Only later did I think about the deeper issues here that both glossed over, missing a chance to make good movies into great ones. Fairy tales charm us, but they carry very profound, nourishing lessons. These two are fanciful desserts, spun sugar and sparkle.
The Intouchables (an awkward title, I think) claims to be based on a true story, and I don’t doubt that it is. But I can’t help thinking that the situation between Driss, the felon from Senegal, and Philippe the very rich, quadriplegic Frenchman he goes to work for didn’t progress quite so smoothly and picturesquely as portrayed here. Clichés are thick on the ground; I’ll mention a couple: Driss gives Philippe his first taste of marijuana, and judging by Philippe’s beatific smile somehow that makes up for so many things; Philippe introduces Driss to the world of Art and classical music, and of course, Driss turns out to be a great painter (fooling French collectors into paying large sums of money for his work) and also a great dancer once he changes the music from Mozart and Beethoven to Earth, Wind and Fire -- at which time, all the stuffy people let their hair down and dance. And at the end, the woman Philippe has been sending bad poetry to, who has never seen him or been forewarned about his status, is set up on a date with him. Driss basically abandons his employer, confident that love will find a way and all will turn out well. (This, in spite of the fact that the setting is a restaurant and Philippe has to be carefully fed. Somehow, this unsuspecting woman is supposed to get it all right from the start?)
Jut as with Marigold Hotel, I admit I was charmed with the French movie as I was watching it. Only later did I think about the deeper issues here that both glossed over, missing a chance to make good movies into great ones. Fairy tales charm us, but they carry very profound, nourishing lessons. These two are fanciful desserts, spun sugar and sparkle.