Published: December 25, 2011
The Christmas holidays in Paris are synonymous with gray skies, damp and rain. To brighten the short, gloomy days, garlands of lights decorate the main shopping streets of the city. In my neighborhood, the colors that dominate are sapphire blue and sparkling white.
Although the French varieties are as puny as ever, the price of Christmas trees is up over last year, but they are selling like hotcakes and despite bad weather, Christmas shoppers are out in force. It may well be "la crise," as the French call the worldwide financial crisis, but Christmas is Christmas and 'tis the season to spend.
It's also the season to go to the movies with family or friends and the major movie studios are well aware of this.
Americans have Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin," released just in time for the Christmas weekend. The French are going to see Martin Scorsese's 3D film "Hugo." They also have the choice of another movie, a record-breaking box office hit that Americans may never get a chance to see.
"Untouchable" is its name in English - in French "Intouchables" - and it has been likened to a fairy tale or a Christmas story.
Released in November, the film, starring Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy - definitely not household names to Americans - recounts a true story of the improbable encounter of two men who saved each other's life.
In the film, one of these men is a multimillionaire. He lives in an elegant townhouse in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of Paris. A Maserati worth $200,000 sits in his driveway and when he gets the whim, he has the means to rent a private jet.
The other is a black man from the Parisian suburbs, the French equivalent of the projects or a ghetto. Just released from six months in prison for petty theft, he has no saleable skills. Out of work, he is also out of a home because his overworked and underpaid mother, who cleans office buildings at night, has just put him out in the street.
At first glance, there's no doubt about who is on top in this relationship, but at the end of the film's first sequence, the tables are turned. Pulled over after a car chase through the streets of Paris with the Maserati hitting speeds of nearly 180 mph, the hired driver Driss explains to a police officer that his boss is a quadriplegic who can move only his head.
Welcome to the world of "Intouchables," the fictionalized account of the true story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, the wealthy aristocratic director of Pommery, the producer of a famous French champagne, and Abdel Sellou - represented by the character of Driss in the film - his caregiver for a 10-year period during which "they needed each other," said Pozzo di Borgo, victim of a hang-gliding accident.
An important detail absent from the film is that the millionaire hired Sellou to take care of him at a time when his wife was dying of cancer so that he could devote more time to her. Today, Pozzo di Borgo, 60, lives in Morocco with his second wife and their two daughters. Sellou, married and the 40-year-old father of three, runs a business in Algeria, his native country. They remain close and the final image of the film shows the real-life "intouchables" together.
So far, more than 12 million Frenchmen have seen the film, which represents about one fifth of the entire population. Audiences love it and French organizations representing the handicapped praise its honest take on living with a handicap in a country which all too often ignores the needs and talents of its handicapped citizens.
Five cents of every ticket goes to Simon de Cyrene, an association named after the man who, according to the Gospel of Mark, carried the cross of Christ to Calvary. It works to build special residences where people with and without disabilities live together in a spirit of mutual aid and sharing.
But, as I've already mentioned, Americans may never get a chance to see this film in part because of fears American audiences may find it racist.
Film critic Jay Weissberg writing for the weekly entertainment trade magazine Variety, accuses the film of "Uncle Tom racism," claiming that starring actor Omar Sy, who plays the role of the caregiver, is treated like a "performing monkey." The Hollywood Reporter, while praising Sy's charm and energy, regrets that the racial angle is "clumsily dramatized," concluding that "Untouchable" is little more than a "shamelessly manipulative French crowd-pleaser."
On that last point, many French critics agree. They accuse the film's two directors, Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, of using every cliche in the book to bring audiences to tears as they witness two "untouchables," a quadriplegic and a black man from the projects, connect in what looks a lot like love.
In fact, without being a "love story," "Untouchable" is a movie where love conquers all: racial, economic and cultural differences disappear in a working relationship transformed into friendship. And in the process, claim the critics, viewers lose sight of the highly exceptional nature of the story and of the reality of millions of other "untouchables," be they the handicapped or the poor and downtrodden of France.
As for me, I'm one of the 12 million who have already seen the film. I enjoyed it and at times it brought tears to my eyes. Above all, I consider "Untouchable" a very entertaining movie, thanks in large part to the chemistry at work between its two stars, Francois Cluzet, vibrant with life although confined to a wheelchair, and Omar Sy, who combines the charm and good looks of George Clooney with the energy and humor of Eddie Murphy. And I did not find the film racist. Nor do viewers in those African countries where the film has been released.
However, I do have one criticism to make in the form of a question: What if Driss, the caregiver, had been a woman? Would such a film ever have been made? One source of the film's humor arises from a man doing "woman's work," cleaning up after his boss in the bathroom, getting him into clean clothes each day. Almost as exceptional as the two men having ever met is Driss's incursion into the overwhelmingly feminine profession of home healthcare. Many of Driss's qualities, exceptional in a man, are, in the case of a woman, simply what is expected of her if she works as an aid in a private home, a nursing home, or an assisted-living residence.
I have seen these women at work and they've impressed me just as much, or more, than the movie. I have observed firsthand their patience, their kindness and their physical, mental and moral strength, and this year, as I wish a merry Christmas to all my readers, I would also like to address warm greetings to Deb, Mary Margaret, Nancy, April, Bridget, Lauren, Joann, Dominique, Eleanor and the many other women working at Providence Place in Pottsville, making life better for my mother, putting the "Christmas spirit" into practice all year round.
(Honicker can be reached at honicker.republican herald@gmail.com)
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