Samba migrated to France 10 years ago from Senegal, and has since been plugging away at various lowly jobs. Alice is a senior executive who has recently undergone a burnout. Both struggle to get out of their dead-end lives. Samba's willing to do whatever it takes to get working papers, while Alice tries to get her life back on track until fate draws them together.
Acting
Omar Sy carries impossible warmth through crushing circumstances.
Writing
The Intouchables directors finally let their sweetness sting.
Direction
Paris as both dream destination and bureaucratic trap.
Director
Éric Toledano
Omar Sy
Samba Cissé
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Alice
Tahar Rahim
Walid aka Wilson
Izïa Higelin
Manu
Issaka Sawadogo
Jonas Karanoto
Hélène Vincent
Marcelle
Youngar Fall
Lamouna, Samba's uncle
Christiane Millet
Madeleine
Jacqueline Jehanneuf
Maggy
Liya Kebede
Magali aka 'Gracieuse'
Sabine Pakora
Gracieuse, the salon manager
Clotilde Mollet
Josiane, from the interim agency
Adel Bencherif
The seller of residence cards
Jean-Michel Correia
The patron of the guards
Michel Winogradoff
The concierge of the hotel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Europe's 2014 migrant crisis, the film deliberately humanized headlines France wanted to ignore. Omar Sy became the first Black actor to win a César for The Intouchables; this was his deliberate pivot to politically charged drama.
The directors interviewed actual undocumented workers for years. Samba's restaurant kitchen scenes were shot in real service conditions with non-actors who recognized their own lives.
FR
