Untouchable - Film Analysis

Untouchable (2011) is a French film directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. The genre of the film would be a biography with a mixture of drama and comedy included within it. The movie covers themes and representations of disability and race but overall it is about friendship. It focuses on a mismatched friendship between a wealthy middle-aged man and a black man who's an ex-convict. Both of these characters have their own disadvantage, one physical and the other socioeconomic. 

Disability is shown mostly under a positive light in this movie, it shows the audience that people with disabilities are still able to live normal and fulfilling lives. An example of this from the movie is when both of the characters go paragliding; an activity which you wouldn't expect a person who is paralyzed from the neck down to be willing, or even to be physically able to do. Phillipe hires Drill as his care taker because he doesn't treat him differently, he doesn't pity him or show him sympathy. That is exactly what Phillipe wanted. The friendship between the two of them grows and they begin to introduce each other to their own worlds. Phillipe has a massive influence on Driss on the way he behaves, this is clearly seen when at the beginning of the movie Driss violently drags a man out of his car because he was parked in a place he wasn't supposed to. Whereas towards the end of the movie, the same situation occurs, except this time Driss asks the man politely to move. This shows the audience how the character has changed positively. Similarly, Driss introduces Phillipe to a different type of music, he also lets Phillipe smoke weed... this is something the audience wouldn't expect an upper class man to be doing.

Race is also a major theme included in the movie, Driss and Phillipe are clearly from two different backgrounds and the audience would have never expected them to become friends. At the beginning of the movie, when Phillipe is interviewing people to be his carer, Driss is the only black man in the room. He is presented very differently to the white men as they are all dressed very smartly and have very good qualifications for the job. Driss however is wearing very casual street clothes and has no interest in actually applying for the job, he just wants to be able to claim his benefits. This is a negative stereotypical representation of black people, but his character grows throughout the movie and shows the audience his true loving nature.

The movie shows the development of Phillipe and Drill's friendship, it is engaging to the audience through the use of humour; which in my opinion is a big factor which lead to the movie being so successful around the world.