Intouchables (2011) “After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.”

The French foreign film ‘The Intouchables (2011)’ is one of my most beloved films; it makes me feel a range of emotions and the imagery and narrative are suburb. As I re-watched this film the other day with a friend who had not seen it before both of us picked up visual metaphors ‘motifs’ within the piece that I had not realized before. An example can be seen when Driss ‘Philippes’ caregiver (who throughout the film does not ‘see’ Philippes quadriplegic disability when being with him as many others do) leaves him only to later return stating that he is much more than a caregiver but a close friend. Within the time Driss leaves, Philippes character begins to grow a beard which represents neglect to himself and from others. When Driss returns and shaves it off it represents return of Philippes happiness and the need for a true friend. This film has so many beautifully set mise-en-scenes that represents, isolation, alienation and displacement the use of classical music Driss listens to within the projects represents his displacement within his previous gang related lifestyle.

The frame (and scene) below is one of my favorite mise-en-scenes/shots of all time, the isolation in this picture can be felt as a dim street light shines on Driss as classical music plays whilst the camera pans across all of the projects apartment buildings, This is a powerful shot also due to the fact the ones proceeding it involve a vast amount of wealth. The contrast is also represented with mood lighting, the blue hues bring out the loneliness within Driss’s life whilst walking into the light represents the friendship that has yet to come.

To my surprise when wanting to research this film more (as I found out the American film industry may be making a re-make which I am highly against- as remaking a film purely due to language barriers only builds segregation) I found out that there is a Bollywood version, in fact when researching many films I found out there is a Bollywood version for most famous films, this includes Pride and Prejudice which becomes Bride and Prejudice.
The styles of the film are so different and there is such an over saturation in Bollywood films that I believe in this case deter from the films narrative. The Intouchables deliberately uses a specific colour pallet to create moods and melancholy atmospheres. I believe the difference represent the film industries values. Bollywood centers much more around colour, laughter and ‘cliches’ or hero’s. This can mean that the true meaning of the story can become warped into a film for entertainment. Although I am saying this one of my favorite films is filmed within Mumbai, this is was only half created within Bollywood industry whilst the other half of the film is English, this means the characters speak both Hindu and English and it’s a beautiful mixture. The film is named ‘The Lunchbox’ and it has a very similar mise-en-scene and feel as the Intouchables has.