Despite our preoccupation with the more dazzling blockbusters from across the pond there are great rewards in casting the net further afield and, in many cases, closer to home.
Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s Untouchable is out this week in the UK and Twitter is buzzing with praise for the film as it charms its way across the channel and into our cinemas. The film tells the story of François Cluzet’s wealthy quadriplegic who hires a live-in carer from the projects played by Omar Sy, a regular collaborator of Nakache and Toledano’s, and the crossing of cultures and classes has seen the film become the French film most viewed theatrically outside its native country, overtaking Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s timeless Amelie.
Jeunet’s films are an important touchstone here as there are strong rumours of an English language remake, with Colin Firth no less, on the cards and yet Jeunet’s films, considered by many to be modern classics of French cinema have resisted the onslaught of the remake machine and thus survive outside France and can be seen as genuine classics.
Harvey Weinstein has the remake rights, and as The Weinstein Company did so much to bring The Artist to a worldwide audience it seems as though we’ll be seeing this film again, in another language and with another cast, all too soon. Consider this as your chance to see the original.
If you’ve not seen anything from the film thus far we’ve got a brief trailer for you to set the mood and to give and idea of the curious and charming dynamic between the two leads.
The film is out in the UK on the 21st of September, find out more here.
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