Mon Cher Ami, Mon Raison D'être: Love, Friendship and Moving Forward
French politicians especially have been known to hold up their nation's film industry as a national champion; perhaps they have once or twice even thought of the strength of France's cinematic legacy as superior if not at least equal to that of its other national treasures, such as cheese, wine, Molière and Nutella crêpes. Fortunately, every now and again, a French movie manages to break into the world of the English-speaking cinema mainstream and illustrate how, on this occasion, the politicians are telling a full-fledged and sincerely heartfelt truth. Like Amélie (2001) or A Very Long Engagement (2004), Untouchable (2011) firmly established a place upon the mosaic within the international collective cinema psyche because the movie was nothing short of a masterpiece, not least because it is one of the few films in existence that truly succeeded in blending the genres of drama and comedy so brilliantly that it seems farcical to seek to define it as either predominantly one or mostly the other. Thus, it is therefore just about the only film that would have been taken seriously, without any need for even its harshest critics to pretend to do so in public, had it been nominated for a Golden Globe Award in both the Best Musical or Comedy and Best Drama categories. While the undeniably charming and poignant buddy comedy-drama may not have even won the award for Best Foreign Language Film from the Hollywood Foreign Press, there was indeed still much to celebrate.
After just nine weeks passing since its release date, Untouchable became the second most successful French movie of all time. The movie's co-writer and co-director, Eric Toledano, shared news with the world about how he had received over three-thousand thank you letters from wheelchair users all over the world for his work. One of its stars, Omar Sy, became the first actor of African origin to win the César Award for Best Actor, (France's answer to the Oscars), for his outstanding performance, launching his Hollywood career to new heights with films like X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Jurassic World (2015) and Inferno (2016). What was it about this picture that warranted success on such a grand scale? The roughly two-hour running time of the movie would be more than well-spent by movie lovers in particular, since the undeniable answers are illuminated within minutes and consistently re-affirmed with expert craftsmanship throughout the tale of finding treasure of delight within chests of tragedy.
First up flies a soundtrack that achieves the colossal feat of employing era-defining classical music, piano tracks that amount to the status of unsung heroes within their field and landmark pop songs in such a way that re-invigorates the passions for all of those marvellous melodies and for life beyond the movie theatre, as if their musical sheets were written solely for this film alone. In combination, the blend of musical genres and mellifluous harmonies effortlessly carries the audience around in circles from more woebegone tones right up to totally contrasting moods of glee that prompt an inclination to boogie the scene away with the protagonists. Without giving too much away, rest assured, for so long as the right questions are posed to the search engines, these musical gems can be found on the internet in no time.
Omar Sy and François Cluzet perform their respective roles with consistently boundless levels of effortless grace and cautious attention to detail in equal measure, aided more than aptly by a great supporting cast while they set ablaze universal social issues that range from race, class and disability, to the somewhat less urgent debates surrounding modern art. In the end, when all is raised and considered, one at least uncovers an avenue through which to see light but nonetheless infectious humour within subjects of incomprehensible peculiarity. Moreover, one also grows to realise the sheer value of embracing the protective quality of friendship as the umbrella against the pouring rain, the freezing snow or the scorching sun, while simultaneously offering that same shield to others, continually striving for the fruition of their friend's joy, which, once achieved, brings about a sense of fulfilment and utter completeness to all involved that no other act can ever hope to rival.
The very thought of sitting through a movie with subtitles can sometimes bring about all but total exhaustion to the mind, for even the fastest reader may feel held back from fully indulging in, for instance, a character's facial expressions or the action taking place around that character by having to ensure that they are positioned well enough to comfortably read, even only in their head, all the dialogue from start to finish. An American remake, currently underway with impressive names attached to it like Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, will certainly address that problem in the not-too-distant future. Yet, albeit it is a timeless story that could easily be retold with a guaranteed positive impact by the right assemblage of dedicated talent, to deny giving a chance to the original French interpretation would ultimately leave a void that would be impossible to fill via any other means. Furthermore, if there was ever a reason to demand that more than just four 'foreign' films a year get any attention from the Oscars or the BAFTAs especially, Untouchable, or Intouchables, as it is known in in French, is and forever will be the proposal's sole justification that simply cannot be countered.
Omar Sy and François Cluzet perform their respective roles with consistently boundless levels of effortless grace and cautious attention to detail in equal measure, aided more than aptly by a great supporting cast while they set ablaze universal social issues that range from race, class and disability, to the somewhat less urgent debates surrounding modern art. In the end, when all is raised and considered, one at least uncovers an avenue through which to see light but nonetheless infectious humour within subjects of incomprehensible peculiarity. Moreover, one also grows to realise the sheer value of embracing the protective quality of friendship as the umbrella against the pouring rain, the freezing snow or the scorching sun, while simultaneously offering that same shield to others, continually striving for the fruition of their friend's joy, which, once achieved, brings about a sense of fulfilment and utter completeness to all involved that no other act can ever hope to rival.
The very thought of sitting through a movie with subtitles can sometimes bring about all but total exhaustion to the mind, for even the fastest reader may feel held back from fully indulging in, for instance, a character's facial expressions or the action taking place around that character by having to ensure that they are positioned well enough to comfortably read, even only in their head, all the dialogue from start to finish. An American remake, currently underway with impressive names attached to it like Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, will certainly address that problem in the not-too-distant future. Yet, albeit it is a timeless story that could easily be retold with a guaranteed positive impact by the right assemblage of dedicated talent, to deny giving a chance to the original French interpretation would ultimately leave a void that would be impossible to fill via any other means. Furthermore, if there was ever a reason to demand that more than just four 'foreign' films a year get any attention from the Oscars or the BAFTAs especially, Untouchable, or Intouchables, as it is known in in French, is and forever will be the proposal's sole justification that simply cannot be countered.
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