Next up for cinephiles in Westport is the French comedy The Intouchables, which as gone on to become the country’s second biggest box office hit of all time. The multi-award winning film on the festival circuit tells the story of Philippe, a gloomy multimillionaire who has been paralysed from the neck down and Driss, his new Senegalese assistant from the downtrodden banlieues.
Not quite on doctor’s orders, Driss takes Philippe as far out of his comfort zone as possible and into a world he never knew existed—or rather always tried to avoid. A slapstick, gleefully incorrect throwback to ’80s culture-clash comedies like Trading Places, only played out across contemporary France’s ever-palpable racial and class tensions. The film will be screened on Wednesday, February 6 at 8.45pm at Westport Cineplex.
