The Intouchables (Bilingual) [Blu-ray]

Free spirit story about two men growing together from very different circumstances-- a celebration of life in Paris and beyond.

This movie has humor in the same vein as the original version of La Cage Aux Folles ( I hope I got the spelling right!), understated, subtle and intelligent. There is a story of substance and excellent character development and the humor comes from the viewers intimate look at the foibles and life-situations of the characters. No slap-stick here! My face was sore from the almost never ending smiling and laughter....a fine balance of chuckles and belly laughs. The pathetic situation of the main character who is paralyzed from the neck down is turned upside down and we find ourselves laughing at such things as the discovery after smoking up on grass, that his ears are extremely sensitive erogenous zones and his quip that sometimes in the morning his ears are hard...both of them!! The juxtaposition of the main characters, the multimillionaire who was paralyzed hang gliding in the French Alps and the young ex-con from the streets of Paris, is plumbed deeply by the director and actors for a rare hilarity that one finds seldom in today's movies. We are brought close to tears by both the pathos and bathos of their lives. The two main characters enrich each others lives in a million different ways having little to do with money and we are enriched as the audience by the genius of all those involved with this story. I rented the movie tentatively, because it was in French with English sub-titles, first on Cinema Now, but loved it so much I bought it from Amazon.ca so I could watch comedy of the first magnitude whenever I tired of the trite comedic fare available on TV and from Hollywood. I would give this movie 5 stars and two thumbs up if there were such praise here. Do yourself a big favor and see this wonderful movie, which by the way is based on a very true story. You will catch a brief glimpse of the real life people as the film closes.

This is one of the best films I have watched. It is so cleverly funny and touching! I strongly recommend