The Untouchables - Film Analysis

'The Untouchables' is a 2011 biographical comedy drama directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, the film explores themes of; class, humanity, disability, insecurities, wealth, love, humour, and friendship as we see the lives of two completely different people collide resulting in an possibly unexpected positive outcome for both characters. Driss (Omar Sy), a young black man living on a poverty stricken estate, and Philipe (Francois Cluzet) , an elderly white disabled millionaire come into contact after Driss unwillingly attends a job interview in attempt to gain a signature towards claiming his benefits, consequently meeting Philipe and soon after being given a job as his personal handler. The film was a huge success worldwide earning itself the title of second highest selling French film of all time, gaining an astounding $426.6 million at the box office with just a $10.8 million budget, this success possibly aided by distributers (The Weinstein Company) who were key in providing the film with the ever important American audience. The film possessed and cleverly played against many stereotypes in the duration of the film, allowing the characters to immediately become recognisable and have a level of characterisation and depth to them. I personally think the major theme displayed through out the film was humanity, I believe this due to the characters evidently being very different in class (and many other aspects) , and both characters living two extremely different lives, yet they are still able to show affection and care for one another, overcoming the barrier that may be seen by many people in the modern world between these two very different people.  

This film will be very useful as a case study for our media exam surrounding representation as there are many examples of both positive and negative representations of gender,age,disability,race and class, throughout the film. I personally think the representation of disability was positive in this particular film, our protagonist Philipe is consequently paralysed below the neck after a hand gliding accident leaving him wheelchair bound and constantly needing help with literally everything in his every day life. However even though Philipe is the victim of a devastating incident leaving him unable to live a completely normal life due to his mobility , he continues to demonstrate his determination in many forms through out the film as it is clear he is set on living a life as enjoyable as it can possibly be, his love and passion for art and hand gliding is displayed in the film proving the clear determination he possess as his disability is not able to stop him from doing what he loves.