Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

By all accounts this is a little movie with a big heart, BUT one that has broken all box office records in France and done well all across Europe...so we just HAD to have it in Keswick to see what the fuss was about! It’s not a new story; rich, white guy with a black servant, who learn to like each other. Although it does star François Cluzet, the other actors are relative unknowns (One of whom, Omar Sy has, however, won the Best Actor César award). It’s not a clever comedy - ‘You will laugh, you will cry, you will cringe’ - A O Scott, NY Times.

Based on a true story (believe it or not), we have Philippe, a rich paraplegic, who is bored by all the applicants for a job as his carer, so he hires Driss, a wise-talking Senegalese who only applied so that he could get welfare benefits. Driss manages to improve Philippe’s life whilst getting himself out of the poverty trap. That’s it... So why has it proved so popular? ‘Not a great film but a warm one that pushes the viewer’s emotional buttons so deftly it feels like a massage. My guess is that you will laugh and cry at all appropriate moments. Resistance is futile.’ - Richard Corliss, TIME.

Enjoy the massage...