Does ‘Intouchables’ Have Just a Touch of Racism?

January 3rd, 2012 - By Brande Victorian

What some see as a “cultural phenomenon” others see as a modern day example of an Uncle Tom in the French film “Intouchables.” The movie tells the story of a poor black man from a low-income housing project in northern Bondy who is hired to take care of a rich white quadriplegic; and while French reviewers have mostly heralded the film which has been breaking box office records, American critics are crying racism.

Speaking of the film’s portrayal of its main character, Driss, as ignorant to the customs of French high society, Variety critic Jay Weissberg wrote that the film “flings about the kind of Uncle Tom racism one hopes has permanently exited American screens.”

“Driss is treated as nothing but a performing monkey, teaching the stuck-up white folk how to get ‘down.’… It’s painful to see.”

But a commenter on the French AlloCine movie website, retorted, “Did we watch the same movie?” while a French journalist question, “How could the Americans have considered a film we French loved so much as racist?”

Even in a French movie trailer, you get the gist of the cultural divide between the black and white man, which appears to do more with class than race. While I wouldn’t liken the film to “BAPs” or “Bringing Down the House,” it has that same sort of undertone–fun, eccentric black people show rich white folks how to loosen up. The question is, is that racist?

The story line has certainly grown tired here in American cinema but is it OK for Americans to push that outlook on a French film? We’d probably be better off looking at the portrayals of African Americans in films on our own turf than trying to point fingers at out foreign allies without full appreciating the cultural context. There are still plenty of mammy and Uncle tom references we can tackle on our own soil.

Have you heard of “Intouchables?” Judging from the storyline, do you think plots like these are racist?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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  • Desalpages

    Omar Sy a été choisi pour le rôle de Driss car c’est un acteur et un comédien très aimé en France. Et moi, j’aime bien mon petit z’Omar (jeu de mots).

  • http://www.urban-society.de hassia

    @Caribbean in the house. I take issue with your broad assumptions and obvious lack of analytical reasoning. Asstute you are not otherwise you would not attribute a terminology that was a product of the Portuguese, to Dr King. Now I understand that you throw the word google about without having the slightest clue as to its use. In closing I do not reside nor am I an American. To use an American vernacular…, learn it.

  • Kayla

    Until blacks do something about Tyler Perry I don’t wanna hear ish

  • http://www.urban-society.de hassia

    @Caribbean in the house, construction check, afro-american negro,your double description renders your point moot.Judging by your past comments I will surmise that enlightened you are not.

  • French Reader M.K

    –> ” Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house”
    I think some people are willing to put the effort to seek the slighest flaw (if this word is even appropriate) in everything.
    The plot is about a young struggling man hired as a help for a wealthy paraplegic man. Beyond that simple fact we get to see how their relationship evolve and how in fact they are not that different from each other.
    Where is racism in this ? As a matter of fact this movie is based on a true story. Abdel “the real Driss” is moroccan so i don’t why racism has to be involved.OKay, some of the facts were changed for the simple reason that THIS IS A MOVIE ( a movie is supposed to entertain people).
    I’ve heard some people judged the dancing scene as degrading ( racist…), I don’t get it. This is more than that , this scene is in my opinion the “exchange” of two different cultures from two differents persons.
    I personnaly believe that the aim of this movie in not to show how Black people and White people interact together BUT to show how people ( black ,white,grey,yellow…) from two different cultures can have have this truly honest bond.
    We might not all have the same criterias for racism, an all white movie is less racist than Intouchables? How come a movie with only one Black person known as THE (only) black friend can be seen as less racist than Intouchables? How come in most (not to say all ) horror movies,Black people have to die at the beginning or are never the ONLY survivor ( please see the movie ” RATS”)

    To put it in a nutshell ,Stop trying to see the worst in every single thing, beside we ALL know that an american remake will be done in the next few years.

    This movie is just wonderful!!

  • Darkman

    The trailers are hilarious!!!! There’s nothing more racist or cliché in that movie you didn’t see in “Driving Miss Daisy”, “Bringing down the House” or “Guess who?” (in reverse psycho).
    There is no Uncle Tom, you could switch easily switch the black man with a latino, a redneck/ white trash and it will work well with some adaptation.
    Don’t forget it’s a true story where the original guy was an arab (easier to laugh from a black than an arab…).
    It’s just a funny movie who probably will get a US remake in 2 or 3 years (lieke “who’s talking”).
    Nothing here for Al Sharpton…

  • ManchesterUKer

    haven’t seen the film but to take such a view is super ethnocentric, you refuse to look at things through any other lens than a black AMERICAN one and therefore bring everything that comes along with that into the equation

  • Amy

    I saw the movie and I loved it. Yes, there were some racial
    stereotypes but some people are missing the point of the movie. They portrayed
    two people we could say are socially rejected. While everybody treated
    Philippe with pity, Driss treated him like a normal human being. He
    looked further than Philippe’s condition. They created a bond over the
    smallest things. Before, Philippe was only a stuck-up and rich
    quadraplegic but Driss taught him to appreciate life. Of course, the
    movie’s not perfect!

    And I don’t understand how you can judge a movie before even watching
    it and valuing the sole opinion of one person. Plus, the trailer’s in
    french.

    • Darkman

      Well said!

  • DidiK

    Wow this is an excellent article!

    I saw Intouchables, to me one of best movie I EVER see! I think I have never laughed so much,

    I’m a french black woman…and I didn’t see any racism or be offended,

    yes there are some sterotypes but that doesn’t mean racism, some people tend to use it too often when itsn’t necessary.

    As you well said, people have to understand the cultural context to really appreciate the movie.

    We (french africans) don’t have the same history as African americans. In US people are more watchful about racism, sterotypes, discrimination… sometimes too often I’d say but this is related to history.
    Make racism commonplace and see it everywhere is a way to lose the real meaning of it

    • brian k

      I speak French so I watched the film in VO and it was very good.  I didn’t get all the jokes because i am not a native speaker, but this was a film that had it all.  I think the US has made a lot of progress on race, and sometimes people from other countries hide behind cultural differences to continue racist practices e.g. Mexicans and the Memin character.  However in this instance there is over sensitivity. 

  • JN31

    The trailer is in French so it’s hard to tell. It has the undertone of the normal slap stick black-white buddy film but towards the end seems to want to be a coming of age type of movie. Again, it’s in French and I’ve never heard of the actor before to see what his line of work is all about. It would be silly for anyone who isn’t French speaking to comment that it’s racist at this point. 

    • Djka

      Thank you fir not judjing, the black actor us Omar Sy, he’s an comic guy, he has a show with his long term buddy Fred, who happens ti be white, the movie is based on a real story, but the poor person in real life isn’t even black, he’s maghrebin( from morroco), so, while you’re judjing uf this story is racist of not, in France, people have seen past the color of skin of these two men, the black men was engaged because he did not treated the paralysed guy as an handicap person, but he saw him as a human been…
      Thats why the story us so touching… I hope yiu could see and understand the story of these two men.

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