Untouchable

Director's Statement

Olivier Nakache: The idea for UNTOUCHABLE dates back to 2003. One evening, we watched a documentary that marked us both: A LA VIE, A LA MORT. It was all about the highly unlikely encounter between Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, who was left a quadriplegic after a paragliding accident, and Abdel, a young guy from the projects hired to take care of him. At the time, we had just finished shooting JE PREFERE QU’ON RESTE AMIS (Just Friends). We probably weren’t mature enough to tackle the subject at that time, but the documentary stayed with us. We often watched it again and ... after TELLEMENT PROCHES (So Close), we felt that maybe the time had come to work on the story. Eric Toledano: The circumstances were a little special after that film, in which Omar played the part of a doctor. It was such a pleasure for us to see him become an actor at our side in NOS JOURS HEUREUX (Those Happy Days): we naturally wanted to continue this adventure with him. We felt that Omar hadn’t yet been used to his full potential on the big screen. And the relationship between Philippe and Abdel came back to us like a boomerang, like something obvious. And so we showed Omar the documentary to see if it might interest him. On obtaining a positive response from him, we at last realised that this story contained everything that we were looking for: an incredible story, a powerful subject, a great deal of humour ... And, beyond that, everything that Olivier and I admire: people who, in extreme situations, keep their sense of humour and remain positive. That’s how we work in everyday life anyhow: we knew that we would have things to say on this subject.