african as comic relief in french film

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Tristin Tracy Oct. 28, 2014 ENGL 3363, Films and Context Dr. Keresztesi Midterm Essay The African as Comic Relief in French Film Throughout our class so far, we’ve seen the impact that the French have had on African development, both in film and outside of it. Whether it’s the idea of neo-slavery in “Black Girl” or the IMF’s role in shaping African Cinema behind the camera. French influence has always been a strong theme in the class. The Intouchables is the first actual French film we’ve watched in the class, as well as the most modern. In the film we can see the perpetuation of African stereotypes, the role of Africans in Europe, the lasting impressions of colonialism in France, and the isolation of the modern African from modern society discussed by Manthia Diawara in his book, “We Won’t Budge.” The Intouchables is, on the surface, a charming story of two unlikely friends who learn to appreciate each other’s vastly

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Page 1: African as Comic Relief in French Film

Tristin Tracy

Oct. 28, 2014

ENGL 3363, Films and Context

Dr. Keresztesi

Midterm Essay

The African as Comic Relief in French Film

Throughout our class so far, we’ve seen the impact that the French have had on African

development, both in film and outside of it. Whether it’s the idea of neo-slavery in “Black Girl”

or the IMF’s role in shaping African Cinema behind the camera. French influence has always

been a strong theme in the class. The Intouchables is the first actual French film we’ve watched

in the class, as well as the most modern. In the film we can see the perpetuation of African

stereotypes, the role of Africans in Europe, the lasting impressions of colonialism in France, and

the isolation of the modern African from modern society discussed by Manthia Diawara in his

book, “We Won’t Budge.”

The Intouchables is, on the surface, a charming story of two unlikely friends who learn to

appreciate each other’s vastly differing cultures. Driss and Philippe are polar opposites. Driss is

from the projects, originally from Senegal. He’s poor and uneducated, but clever and funny.

Driss is a walking stereotype. He’s served time in jail, he’s lazy and apathetic, he’s on welfare,

he doesn’t want a job, and he’s uncultured. Contrarily, Philippe is an aristocratic millionaire,

interested in art and classical music. It’s a low-brow/high-brow relationship and they play it in a

silly and charming way. However, the film relies heavily on African stereotypes and Driss’s

informality and inappropriateness to create comedy, like when Driss crashes Philippe’s birthday

with a dance party because he can’t get into classical music. Driss’s part in the duo is to provide

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comic relief, and to provide the audience a character to laugh at because he can’t appreciate

culture. Diawara brings this up in “We Won’t Budge”, saying “It is not that French people are

color blind; it is just that they believe in a philosophy of assimilation into their culture, which

they call universal, and they do not think Africans as capable of such integration” (Diawara 155).

Driss is comic relief, he’s not the character the audience is supposed to empathize and identify

with, Philippe is.

Philippe’s character is also far more developed than Driss’s. Driss’s character

development is severely lacking. Where you get a little bit of background on Driss, his jail time,

his estranged family, his troubled cousin, the audience doesn’t get much more beyond that. His

history is kind of there as exposition for his character. It isn’t a driving force for change in his

life or really of any significance. And in the movie, Driss doesn’t change that much. He goes

from making fun of modern art to creating it, but even then, the fact that Philippe was able to sell

the art is a joke for the audience, not a serious character development. We as the audience are

supposed to laugh at his attempts at painting, not consider them as a serious turning point in the

movie for Driss. This attitude in France towards Africans puts them in a difficult position. The

French want them to appreciate their culture and cultivate an air of acceptance, but when

Africans try, as Driss did, it’s a joke. It isn’t taken seriously. Diawara talks about the “Paris they

too had loved for its cosmopolitanism and tolerance of difference”, saying "I am sadder than I

have ever been before because the more they say the world is globalized, the more they

marginalize Africans."

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Contrary to Philippe’s character, Driss’s character doesn’t really go anywhere. He starts

in the projects, he ends in the projects. There are nice resolutions to Philippe’s story, whereas

Driss’s just ends when the movie does. His life doesn’t visibly improve by the end of the movie.

He just walks away, having served Philippe and his needs the entire movie and he doesn’t seem

to gain anything from the relationship like Philippe has. Driss’s entire role in the movie is to

drive Philippe from point A to B and make the audience laugh. Jay Weissberg of Variety put it

well in his review saying, “In fact, Driss is treated as nothing but a performing monkey… It’s

painful to see Sy [Driss], a joyfully charismatic performer, in a role barely removed from the

jolly house slave of yore, entertaining the master while embodying all the usual stereotypes

about class and race.”

The message the movie ends up sending is very pro-colonialism. The black man wants to

refuse the white guy’s help, but is eventually worn down because the white man is insistent,

generous, and patient. The black man serves him endlessly and even comes back after he leaves

because the white man was so good to him. The black guy doesn’t get much from the

relationship. He gets paid a fair amount, he’s exposed to new ideas (but can’t really comprehend

them), but that’s all. There’s no big character change for the black man. He doesn’t get out of the

projects, he isn’t shown to improve his relationship with his family at all. They paint the black

man as a charity case: no job, no prospects, no education. A white man offers him a job and

makes him do things he is resistant to at first, then the audience assumes his life changed for the

better because of the charity of the wealthy tetraplegia. It’s a strong pro-colonialism message

underneath the film’s light-heartedness. If this was an unintentional message, it seems strange

that the role of Driss would be played by an African man, considering the man Driss is based on

in real life, Abdel Sellou, is actually French-Algerian.

Page 4: African as Comic Relief in French Film

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Works Cited

Diawara, Manthia. We Won’t Budge: An African Exile in the World. New York: Basic Civitas

Books, 2003. Print.

The Intouchables. Dir. Olivier Nakache, Eirc Toledano. Gaumont Film Company, 2011. Film.

Weissberg, Jay. “Film Review: ‘Untouchable’”. Variety, Sept. 29, 2011. Web.