The team behind the runaway French hit Intouchables (Untouchable in the UK) reunite for more cross-cultural easy listening. Omar Sy is the eponymous Senegalese kitchen worker, detained and ordered to leave France even though it has been his home for a decade. When twitchy immigration advocate Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) takes on his case, both are pushed to breaking point – his frustration and her burnout rage proving a combustible cocktail. Yet despite her colleague’s insistence that she keep an emotional distance from her clients, Alice finds herself drawn to the stoical young man who is now reduced to finding work in an unforgiving cash-in-hand marketplace in which neither his rights nor his life are valued.
The subject matter may be earnest, but as before co-writers/directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano retain a light and breezy touch, balancing the potential chilliness of their scenario with much warm and engaging humanist comedy. Sy and Gainsbourg do a great job of lending depth and complexity to their characters, while Tahar Rahim is a hoot as Samba’s allegedly Brazilian best friend, who turns a dreary window-washing assignment into a Coke ad striptease. A final reel false-step pushes things into the realms of overcooked melodrama, but for the most part it’s entertainingly upbeat fare.
