Intouchables at IFC Center

A smash in France, where it had the second-highest box office total of any film in history, Intouchables is one of the highlights of this year's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, taking place at IFC, BAM, and Lincoln Center. Director-writers Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano decided to tackle the story of the relationship between a wealthy, crochety quadriplegic and his free-spirited caretaker after seeing a documentary about the pair late one night on television. Philippe Pozzo di Borgo agreed to have the filmmakers fictionalize the story, on one condition: they turn it into a comedy. Sure, the result ignores such realities as class differences, condenses a ten-year relationship into about 12 months, and sometimes relies on stereotypes, but that's often what comedies do. And this one is funny, really funny.

Photo: thanks