Pretty much best friends

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Movie
German title Pretty much best friends
Original title Intouchables
Pretty-Best-Friends-Logo.svg
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 2011
length 112 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
JMK 6
Rod
Director Olivier Nakache ,
Eric Toledano
script Olivier Nakache,
Eric Toledano
production Nicolas Duval ,
Yann Zenou ,
Laurent Zeitoun
music Ludovico Einaudi
camera Mathieu Vadepied
cut Dorian Rigal-Ansous
occupation
synchronization

Pretty best friends (Original title: Intouchables , French for Die Untouchbaren ) is a French comedy film by the directors Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano from 2011 . It was inspired by the 2001 autobiography Le second souffle by the former Pommery managing director Philippe Pozzo di Borgo , who crashed paragliding in June 1993 and has been quadriplegic ever since . Pretty best friends loosely talks about the friendship between him and his long-time care assistant, who with his unconventional manner gives the wealthy but isolated Philippe new courage to face life.

The film with François Cluzet and Omar Sy in the leading roles was shot in Paris , Seine-Saint-Denis , Savoie and in the seaside resort of Cabourg on the English Channel . In France, after its release in November 2011, it became the most successful domestic production of the year with over 19.2 million viewers. The worldwide box office amounted to more than 426 million US dollars .

Critics unanimously praised both the play of the two main actors and the tragicomic staging. At the 37th César Awards in February 2012, Pretty Best Friends entered the race with nine nominations, and Omar Sy won the Best Actor Award . Moreover, the film was for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and the BAFTA Award in the category of Foreign Language Film Best nominated. It was also selected as the official French contribution for an Oscar nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film .

action

In a fade-forward , the main character Driss, the Senegalese driver, is chasing the police through nightly Paris with the paralyzed French Philippe in the passenger seat. Driss bets Philippe to escape the police in her Maserati Quattroporte V , but they soon manage to stop the car. Driss is brutally dragged out of the car, but with the help of a feigned epileptic fit from Philippe and the explanation from Driss that this was the reason for the frenzy, both can escape punishment; the police vehicles even escort them to the nearest hospital in a hurry.

Then the real storyline begins with getting to know Philippe and Driss. The wealthy Philippe has been paralyzed from the third cervical vertebra downwards since a paragliding accident and is looking for a new nurse . Driss, who has just served six months in prison for a robbery, is applying for the job for the sake of form. He is sure that he will receive a rejection. However, he needs a signature as confirmation for the employment office to receive support from there. But Philippe is impressed by Driss because he has no sympathy for him and is amused by his physical handicap. To his surprise, Driss was given the job on probation. Philippe is widowed, has an adopted daughter and lives with several domestic workers in a palace in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district .

Philippe learns about Driss' criminal past through his longtime friend, but that doesn't concern him as long as he does his job properly. He introduced Driss to classical music and painting. Driss urges Philippe to call his pen pal Éléonore in Dunkirk and send her a photo of himself. However, a meeting does not take place because Philippe gets cold feet shortly before the agreed time and leaves the bar. When going out, the two miss each other. Philippe, dissatisfied with himself, calls Driss and leaves Paris with him in a private jet . On the plane, Philippe reveals to him that he had received 11,000 euros for a painting by Driss and gives him the money. Philippe's goal on this short-term trip is to paraglide with Driss, and so the Senegalese is suddenly fearful of his first tandem flight .

Driss has problems with his family and leaves Philippe after a few months when his stepbrother Adama shows up at the villa. The separation is clearly difficult for Philippe and him. Driss returns to his family and takes a job as a courier driver.

As an alternative, Philippe hires several nurses on probation, but none of them can satisfy him. The concerned housekeeper Yvonne contacts Driss, who comes back - and the chase shown at the beginning of the film takes place. “So what's next?” Asks Philippe when they stand in front of the hospital. Driss makes a decision and drives to the Channel coast with Philippe under the pretext of going to a restaurant. Once there, he leaves Philippe at the table and promises that he will not eat alone. He arranged a meeting with Philippe's pen pal Éléonore, who appears shortly afterwards.

At the end of the film, a short shot of the real Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and his friend Abdel Yasmin Sellou are shown.

background

The film is based on a true story and tells the story of the former managing director of the champagne manufacturer Pommery, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo , who became quadriplegic when he had a paragliding accident on June 27, 1993 and has since been paraplegic from the neck down . At that time he was living in the Parisian Palais Hôtel de Longueuil in the 7th arrondissement and was looking for a nurse to look after him around the clock. Among the many applicants, Pozzo di Borgo noticed the 21-year-old Algerian Abdel Yasmin Sellou , who had previously been released from prison and actually did not want the position. Pozzo di Borgo hired Sellou anyway, who was his caretaker for the next ten years. After Pozzo di Borgo's first wife died of cancer in 1996, the then 45-year-old fell into depression and thought of suicide. Sellou helped him out of this depression and they both traveled extensively together. A deep friendship developed from the employee relationship. One of the last trips together took them to Marrakech in 2003 , where Pozzo di Borgo met his second wife. He lives with her and his two daughters near the Moroccan port city of Essaouira . Sellou also found his wife in Morocco . The father of three children runs a broiler farm in Algeria .

The film is based on the autobiography by Pozzo di Borgo, which he published in 2001 under the title Le second souffle ("The second breath") in France. This was followed by many requests for film rights, which he refused. It was only in 2010 that the two directors Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano convinced him to let his life be brought to the big screen. The two directors had been playing with the idea since 2003 after seeing a Mireille Dumas documentary about the special friendship between Pozzo di Borgo and Sellou. In August 2010 they invited Pozzo di Borgo together with the two main actors François Cluzet and Omar Sy to lunch in Essaouira. Ultimately, Pozzo di Borgo agreed on the condition that five percent of the proceeds go to his support association for the disabled, Fédération Simon de Cyrène , and that a film is shown in his rehabilitation center in Brittany . So far, around one million euros have been donated in this way.

The budget for the movie was EUR 9.5 million. In the meantime, over 426 million US dollars (approx. 321 million euros) have been earned worldwide, including over 166 million US dollars in France alone and a further 79 million US dollars in Germany.

Voice actor

The film was dubbed at Christa Kistner Synchronproduktion GmbH in Potsdam . Michael Nowka wrote the dialogue book and directed the dialogue.

Role name actor Voice actor
Phillipe François Cluzet Frank Röth
Driss Omar Sy Sascha Rotermund
Magic Audrey Fleurot Christin Marquitan
Albert Christian Ameri Freimut Götsch
Antoine Grégoire Ostermann Bodo Wolf
Bastien Thomas Solivérès Patrick Baehr
Fatou Salimata Kamate Mariamu Morris
Marcelle Clotilde Mollet Marianne Gross
Adama Cyril Mendi Sami El-Sabkhawi
Mina Absa Diatou Toure Soraya judge
Yvonne Anne Le Ny Isabella Grothe
Elisa Alba Gaïa Bellugi Katharina Ritter

reception

Publication and Success

Main actor Omar Sy with the two directors Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache 2012

The film opened in French and Belgian cinemas on November 2, 2011. In France it became the most successful comedy and the third most successful film in 2011 with over 19.2 million admissions.

On January 5, 2012, the cinema was released in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. The film was also very successful in Germany. Around 290,000 viewers came on the first weekend, which meant that Pretty Best Friends entered the media control cinema charts in second place. A week later, the film jumped to the top of the German cinema charts with 468,000 admissions, where it stayed for the next few weeks. A total of over 9 million viewers saw him in German cinemas. In Switzerland, the film has so far seen over 1.4 million viewers. In Austria, the film has received a total of 4.67 million euros from 704,000 visitors.

Reviews

The film received mostly positive reviews, earning a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 119 reviews. At Metacritic , a Metascore of 57, based on 31 reviews, could be achieved.

Anne Facompre from Filmstarts.de described Fairly Best Friends as a "beautifully staged and extremely touching drama with tragicomic undertones [...] in which a difficult topic is approached with appropriate seriousness and yet with a lot of ease." Like numerous other reviewers, Facompre praised primarily the game of the two main characters. The film is convincing “primarily through its actors. Young star Omar Sy and François Cluzet are equally brilliant in their roles, the latter drawing an extremely complex portrait solely with his facial expressions and his voice, without emphasizing Philip's handicap too much. The experienced actor also benefits from the freshness and carefreeness of his younger partner, which gives the interaction a special dynamic [...] The relationship between the two protagonists, who harmonize well, is clearly the heart of the soulful film. "

According to Lena Bopp from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , the production unites “unequal tender and funny”. Although the script hardly misses an opportunity to “use puns”, the comedy is “touching without ever being embarrassing”. With the film, “the rare feat of turning a material that was already unbearable in reality before kitsch was successful, a tragic comedy that is really touching and amusing without being embarrassing. This is partly due to the performance of the actors, the thirty-three year old Omar Sy, who gives Driss as a clown with his heart in the right place [...] The fact that this sequence of basically simple gags works so well is also due to the rhythm in which they are presented. Everything elegant is alien to this film, the viewer does not have time to delve into the alternating emphatic and parodic moments, because the story jumps on immediately, even hits an unexpected hook once, and finally ends where we expected it: in a better world. "

The critic Hans-Ulrich Pönack found that Pretty Best Friends was the “right fun film for today's problematic times” and the first big hit in 2012: “For the local critic, it is true to say that he is dealing with a great human film , whose emotional effect spreads fascinatingly and atmospherically, even with us. Because this fourth joint film by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano is a brilliantly successful double floor sparkle about a deliciously ironic-sarcastic clash of cultures. And of course it convinces not least through the successful play of its actors: On the one hand François Cluzet, 56, who has worked with directors like Claude Chabrol , Bertrand Tavernier and Robert Altman and here has his motionless masterpiece. On the other hand, the 31-year-old Omar Sy as the relaxed macho type Driss, who so wonderfully effortlessly picks out the cool boy and quilts to the sounds of Earth, Wind & Fire .

The world- author Matthias Wulff described Fairly Best Friends as a “quite interesting film”, which was due on the one hand to its “beyond any comprehensible measure” great success, and on the other hand to its unusual humor, which was rather unusual in that “because one was over Disabled people don't joke or the people who joke about disabled people are usually repugnant [...] The film is so happy and entertaining, it is basically too good to be true that one inevitably considers it too shallow , too kitsch, but it's based on a true story. [...] As can be read in the Wall Street Journal , the American film mogul Harvey Weinstein bought the rights for the remake . But it will hardly be possible for him to surpass such a charming and life-affirming story from the bottom of his heart. "

Fritz Göttler from the Süddeutsche Zeitung was more moderate. He found that the film stuck to a tried and tested formula: “Cinema is letting crazy, crazy boys do crazy things […] François Cluzet is great as Philippe, unpathetic and dignified until he falls into depression, Omar Sy but makes it pretty easy with his Lessons in Love of Life, a catalog of daredevil. In the end, the right, almost tragic fall height is missing , without which a comedy cannot function, that is, 'Intouchables' works as a metaphor , but not fully as a film. "

In the USA, the film was perceived by several critics as "racist" or "shameful". David Denby of The New Yorker said that the film was “catastrophically condescending: the black man who is plump, sexy and a great dancer sets free the frozen white man. The film is embarrassing ”(“ disastrously condescending: the black man, who's crude, sexy, and a great dancer, liberates the frozen white man. The film is an embarrassment ”). Variety's Jay Weissberg said the main character is portrayed "as nothing more than a performing monkey (with all the racist associations of such a term) teaching cocky white people how to 'descend' by replacing Vivaldi with 'Boogie Wonderland' and movements on the dance floor "(" as nothing but a performing monkey (with all the racist associations of such a term), teaching the stuck-up white folk how to get 'down' by replacing Vivaldi with 'Boogie Wonderland' and showing off his moves on the dance floor "). The reason for this could lie in the fact that Americans always first check whether an idea or a picture could hurt anyone.

Soundtrack

No. title Interpreter
1. Fly Ludovico Einaudi
2. September Earth, Wind & Fire
3. Writing poems Ludovico Einaudi
4th The ghetto George Benson
5. You're Goin 'Miss Your Candyman Terry Callier
6th Boogie Wonderland Earth, Wind & Fire / The Emotions
7th L'origine Nascosta Ludovico Einaudi
8th. Feeling good Nina Simone
9. Cache cache Ludovico Einaudi
10. Concerto Pour 2 Violons & Orchester in A Minor, Op. 3 No. 8: Allegro Angelicum De Milan
11. Una Mattina Ludovico Einaudi

Awards

  • 2011: TIFF Award in the categories "Best Actor" (François Cluzet, Omar Sy) and "Best Film" (Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix)
  • 2012: César in the category " Best Actor " (Omar Sy)
  • 2012: David di Donatello Prize in the "Best European Film" category
  • 2012: DIVA audience award in the category "Most successful film 2012"
  • 2012: Étoile d'Or in the category "Best Young Male Actor"
  • 2012: Florida Film Critics Circle Award in the category "Best Foreign Language Film"
  • 2012: Phoenix Film Critics Society Award in the category "Best Foreign Language Film"
  • 2012: Prix ​​Lumières in the category " Best Actor " (Omar Sy)
  • 2012: Sarajevo Film Festival Audience Award in the category "Best Fiction"
  • 2012: Satellite Award in the "Best Foreign Language Film" category
  • 2012: Southeastern Film Critics Association Award in the category "Best Foreign Language Film"
  • 2012: Wisconsin Film Festival Audience Award in the "Best Film" category
  • 2012: German Paralympic Media Award
  • 2013: Český lev in the "Best Foreign Film" category
  • 2013: Golden screen ( with star )
  • 2013: Goya in the category "Best European Film"
  • 2013: Image Award in the "Best International Film" category
  • 2013: Virtuoso Award (Omar Sy)
  • 2013: German audio film award in the cinema film category

literature

Audio books

  • Philippe Pozzo di Borgo: Pretty Best Friends: The Second Life of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo. Read by Philippe's German dubbing speaker Frank Röth. Hamburg, ISBN 978-3-8337-2939-3 .

Documentation

  • Pretty much best friends. What really matters in life. 30-minute episode of the 37 Degrees documentary series on ZDF, Germany 2012, first broadcast on December 4, 2012.

Remakes

The film was remade several times . In 2016, an Indian version of Oopiri was published, which was also filmed with the title Thozha in Tamil . In the same year the Argentinian film Inseparables was shown.

An American remake called Mein Bester & Ich premiered on September 8, 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival . Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart play the leading roles . The regular cinema release in the US and UK was on January 11, 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certificate of Release for Pretty Best Friends . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2011 (PDF; test number: 130 742 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for Pretty Best Friends . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Intouchables. JP's box office.
  4. ↑ Pity forbidden. In: Spiegel Online. January 2, 2012, accessed February 11, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Sylvie Stephan: There are two really pretty best friends. In: RP Online. January 28, 2012, archived from the original on January 31, 2012 ; Retrieved February 11, 2012 .
  6. ↑ The Truth About Two Pretty Best Friends. In: Rollingplanet. January 14, 2012, accessed February 11, 2012 .
  7. ↑ The true story of the movie hit. In: RheinMain Extra Tip. January 11, 2012, archived from the original on March 14, 2012 ; Retrieved February 11, 2012 .
  8. ↑ Blockbuster supports association for the disabled. In: DRadio knowledge. March 14, 2012, archived from the original on March 21, 2012 ; Retrieved March 21, 2012 .
  9. ↑ a b Box Office Intouchables. In: Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 13, 2013 .
  10. ↑ Pretty best friends. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on April 26, 2018 .
  11. ^ The most successful films in France since 1945. In: Insidekino. Retrieved March 6, 2012 .
  12. ↑ “Pretty Best Friends” with a pretty good theatrical release. Media Control . January 9, 2012 (press release).
  13. ↑ Cinema charts: US “Verblendung” new at number two. Media Control. January 16, 2012 (press release).
  14. ↑ Top 100 Germany 2012. In: Insidekino. Retrieved April 6, 2013 .
  15. ↑ Pretty best friends. In: ProCinema Switzerland. Retrieved May 25, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Top 10 last week in Austria. In: DiePresse.at. Archived from the original on April 9, 2012 ; Retrieved April 26, 2012 .
  17. ↑ Pretty best friends at Rotten Tomatoes .
  18. ↑ Pretty best friends at Metacritic (English).
  19. ↑ Anne Facompre: Pretty much best friends . In: film starts . Retrieved March 2, 2013 .
  20. ↑ Lena Bopp: Help each other, that's funny. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 3, 2012, accessed March 29, 2013 .
  21. ^ Hans-Ulrich Pönack: Pretty best friends. In: Deutschlandradio . January 4, 2012, accessed March 29, 2013 .
  22. ↑ Matthias Wulff: Men who have sex with their ears. In: The world . January 5, 2012, accessed March 29, 2013 .
  23. ^ Fritz Göttler: Monsieur Philippe and his chauffeur. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . January 9, 2012, accessed March 29, 2013 .
  24. ↑ Why Americans see racism where the French see no problem? In: bigthink.com. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
  25. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Awards for Pretty Best Friends (2011). Internet Movie Database (IMDb), accessed March 2, 2013 .
  26. ↑ DIVA German Entertainment Prize 2012 ( Memento from July 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
  27. ↑ Diva "topless": Award ceremony in Munich. In: Focus Online . June 27, 2012.
  28. ↑ Andrea Vodermayr: Bayerischer Hof. Diva in Munich: The real "divas". In: Munich evening newspaper . June 27, 2012.
  29. ↑ German Paralympic Media Award 2012 presented. German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), accessed on March 8, 2015 (press release at presseportal.de ). .