Nine weeks after its release in France on 2 November 2011, it became the secondhighest-grossing French film in France, after the 2008 filmWelcome to the Sticks.[4] The film was voted the cultural event of 2011 in France with 52% of votes in a poll byFnac.[5] Until it was eclipsed in 2014 byLucy, it was the most-viewed French film in the world with 51.5 million tickets sold.[6]
The film received positive reviews and several award nominations. In France, the film won theCésar Award for Best Actor for Sy and garnered seven further nominations for theCésar Awards, including theCésar Award for Best Actor for Cluzet. Five percent of the film's profits were donated toSimon de Cyrène, an association that helps paralyzed people.[7]
At night inParis, Driss is driving Philippe'sMaserati Quattroporte at high speed. Chased through the streets bythe police, they are eventually cornered. Driss claims thequadriplegic Philippe must get to a hospital urgently; Philippe pretends to have aseizure and the fooled police officers escort them. After arriving at the hospital, Driss drives away.
The story of friendship between the two men is then told as aflashback: Philippe, a wealthy quadriplegic owner of a luxurioushôtel particulier, and his assistant Magalie are interviewing potential live-in caregivers. Driss has no ambitions to get hired; he is only waiting to get a signature on a document proving his interview was rejected, to continue receiving his benefits. He is told to return the next morning to collect his signed document.
The next day when Driss returns, Philippe's aide Yvonne greets him, telling him he has the job on a trial basis. Despite being uninterested and inexperienced, he does well caring for Philippe, albeit using unconventional methods. Driss learns the extent of his employer's disability, aiding Philippe in every aspect of his life. A friend of Philippe's reveals that Driss was imprisoned for six months for robbery, but Philippe disregards the warnings, stating he does not care about Driss' past. As Driss is the only one who does not treat Philippe with pity, he will not fire Driss as long as he does his job properly.
Philippe explains his disability resulted from aparagliding incident and that his wife died without bearing children. Gradually, Driss helps him to organise his private life, despite having problems with his adopted daughter Elisa. Driss discoversmodern art,opera and startspainting. For Philippe's birthday, a private classical music concert is performed in his living room. Philippe educates Driss on famous classical pieces, but Driss only recognises them as advert music or cartoon themes. Feeling the concert is too boring, Driss playsEarth, Wind & Fire's "Boogie Wonderland", livening up the party, with the guests also enjoying the music.
Discovering Philippe has a purelyepistolary relationship with a woman called Eléonore who lives inDunkirk, Driss encourages his employer to meet her, but Philippe fears her reaction when she discovers his disability. Driss persuades him to talk to her by phone. Philippe agrees to send a photo of himself in awheelchair to her, but he hesitates and asks his aide, Yvonne, to send a picture as he was before his accident. A date between them is agreed to, but Philippe is too scared to meet Eléonore at the last minute and leaves with Yvonne before she arrives. Philippe then calls Driss, inviting him to fly with him in hisDassault Falcon 900 private jet for a paragliding weekend in theAlps.
Driss's cousin, Adama, in trouble with a gang, comes to fetch Driss at the mansion on the pretext of delivering mail. Overhearing, Philippe recognizes Driss's need to be supportive to his family and releases him from his job, suggesting he may not want to push a wheelchair all his life.
Driss returns home, joins his friends and manages to help his cousin. In the meantime new carers have replaced Driss but Philippe is not happy with any of them. His morale is very low and he stops taking care of himself. He grows a beard and looks ill. Worried, Yvonne calls Driss back.
Upon arrival Driss drives Philippe in theMaserati, which brings the story back to the initial police chase. After they eludethe police, Driss takes Philippe to the seaside. Once Philippe has shaved and dressed, they arrive at aCabourg restaurant on the sea front. Driss suddenly leaves the table, saying good luck to Philippe on his lunch date. A few seconds later Eléonore arrives. Emotionally touched, Philippe looks through the window and sees Driss outside, smiling at him. Driss bids Philippe farewell and walks away as Phillipe and Eléonore chat and enjoy each other's company.
The film ends with shots ofPhilippe Pozzo di Borgo and Abdel Sellou, the people on whom the story is based, together on a hillside, reminiscent of the paragliding scene earlier in the film. The closing caption states that the men remain close friends to this day.
After four weeks, by 25 November 2011,The Intouchables had already become the most-watched film in France in 2011.[8] After sixteen weeks, more than 19 million people had seen the film in France. On 10 January 2012,The Intouchables set a record, having been number one for ten consecutive weeks since its release in France. The film has grossed $166 million in France and $444.7 million worldwide as of 12 May 2013.[9]
Intouchables showing at aKansas movie theater in September 2012
On 20 March 2012,The Intouchables broke the record for the highest-grossing French film, surpassingThe Fifth Element ($263.9 million).[10] In July 2012, it became the top grossing foreign language film of 2012 in North America, surpassingA Separation.[11]
The film has also done well in several other European countries, topping charts in Germany for nine consecutive weeks, Switzerland for eleven weeks, Austria for six weeks, Poland for three weeks, and Italy, Spain and Belgium for one week, as of 20 May 2012.[12]
With more than 30 million tickets sold outside France it is the most successful French film shot in French since at least 1994.[13]
In theUnited States, it is the fourth highest-grossing French-language film since 1980.[14]
InGermany, it is the most successful French film shot in any language since at least 1968.[15]
InItaly, it is the most successful French film shot in French since at least 1997.[13]
InSpain, it is the second most successful French film shot in French since at least 1994 behindAsterix & Obelix Take on Caesar (3.7 million admissions) released in 1999.[16]
InSouth Korea, it is the most successful French film shot in French since at least 1994.[13]
InSwitzerland, it is the most successful French film shot in any language and the second most successful film from any nationalities behindTitanic, since at least 1995.[17]
InBelgium, it is the second most successful French film shot in any language since at least 1996 behindBienvenue chez les Ch'tis (1,148,179 admissions).
InAustria, it is the most successful French film shot in any language since at least 1994.[18]
In theNetherlands, it is the most successful French film shot in any language since at least 1994.[19]
InIsrael, it is the most successful French film shot in French since at least 2002.[20]
InCanada (French), it is the fourth[21] most successful French film shot in French since 1 January 2000 (as of 29 March 2012) behindAsterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (651,582 admissions),Amélie (569,523 tickets) andThe Chorus (364,052 tickets sold).
InPortugal, with 146,000 tickets sold in 5 weeks, it is the 6th most successful French film shot in French since at least 1994.[16]
InJapan, it is the most successful French film ever.[22]
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics and holds a 75% approval rating at the film review aggregation siteRotten Tomatoes, based on 122 reviews, and an average score of 6.7/10. The consensus states, "It handles its potentially prickly subject matter with kid gloves, butIntouchables gets by thanks to its strong cast and some remarkably sensitive direction."[92] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 57 out of 100, based on 31 ratings of professional critics.[93] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[94]
The film divided critics in the UK. Upon the film's 21 September 2012 UK release under the titleUntouchable,The Independent called it "a third-ratebuddy movie that hardly understands its own condescension....Why has the world flipped for this movie? Maybe it's the fantasy it spins on racial/social/cultural mores, much asDriving Miss Daisy did 20-odd years ago – uptight rich white employer learns to love through black employee's life-force. That was set in thesegregationist America of the 1940s. What's this film's excuse?"[95]Robbie Collin ofThe Daily Telegraph called it "as broad, accessible and trombonishly unsubtle as a subtitledDriving Miss Daisy"; according to Collin, the "characters are conduits for charisma rather than great dramatic roles, but the horseplay between Sy and Cluzet is often very funny, and one joke bounces merrily into the next."[96] Nigel Farndale, also ofThe Daily Telegraph, said: "The film, which is about to be released in Britain, has been breaking box-office records in France and Germany, and one of the reasons seems to be that it gives the audience permission to laugh with, not at, people with disabilities, and see their lives as they have never seen them before."[97]
In September 2012, it was announced thatThe Intouchables had been selected as the French entry for theBest Foreign Language Oscar for the85th Academy Awards.[101] In December 2012, it made the January shortlist,[102] but was ultimately not selected for inclusion among the final nominees.
In the United States, the film released onDVD in March 2013. It grossed$5.7 million in DVD sales, as of April 2022[update].[122]
In the United Kingdom, it was 2013's second best-sellingforeign language film on physicalhome video formats, second only to theIndonesian action filmThe Raid.[123] It was later the UK's ninth best-selling foreign language film of 2016, and second best-selling French film (behindVictor Young Perez).[124]
In the United Kingdom, it was watched by 213,500 viewers onBBC Two in 2016, making it the year's third most-watched foreign language film on UK television.[124]
In 2015 it was announced thatVamsi Paidipally would be directing an Indian adaptation titledOopiri, which was a bilingual film simultaneously shot and released in bothTelugu andTamil asThozha. Both versions starsKarthi andNagarjuna as its male leads.[125][126] They were released on 25 March 2016.[127]
Nada que ver (Mexico)Two people from different worlds — Paola, a wealthy, spoiled young woman who is blind, and Carlos, a poor nurse — form a bond of trust, mutual respect, and perhaps love.
By March 2013, Feig dropped out of directing, withTom Shadyac in talks to replace him, andChris Tucker was in consideration for Abdel.[134] In October 2014,Kevin Hart was cast as Abdel, with Firth still attached as Phillip.[135] In March 2016, it was announced thatBryan Cranston was cast, replacing Firth.Simon Curtis was to direct Cranston and Hart from a screenplay written by Feig.[136] By August 2016, Curtis presumably dropped out of directing.Neil Burger was announced as his replacement.[137] A script by Jon Hartmere would be used rather than Feig's work.[138]
