Script Francais - Les Intouchables

The published script (available from Éditions Anne Carrière) reveals a clever structural device. The film opens with a midnight car chase through Paris, then flashes back to the interview. This in medias res opening is rare in French comedy-dramas, which often favor linear storytelling.

Nakache and Toledano borrowed from American buddy-comedies but grounded it in French social realism. The script’s first 20 pages move rapidly: Driss steals a Fabergé egg, gets thrown out by his mother, is rejected by multiple employers, and is hired by Philippe out of pure provocation.

Driss speaks authentic Parisian banlieue French: les intouchables script francais

The script never overdoes it — the slang is comprehensible even to intermediate learners.

Every script analysis of Les Intouchables points to the pivotal scene where Driss shaves Philippe’s beard and moustache. In the script, the stage direction reads: The script never overdoes it — the slang

“Driss, maladroit mais concentré, touche le visage de Philippe comme un enfant toucherait un objet précieux. Pour la première fois, ils ne rigolent pas. Philippe ferme les yeux.”
(Driss, clumsy but focused, touches Philippe’s face like a child touching a precious object. For the first time, they are not laughing. Philippe closes his eyes.)

This is where the script transcends comedy. The physical intimacy—Driss handling a paralyzed man’s body—becomes a metaphor for all human vulnerability. The line that follows is simple but devastating: “Driss, maladroit mais concentré, touche le visage de

Driss : “Tu sens bon, toi.”
(You smell good, you.)

Some argue the script romanticizes poverty and disability. Driss’s difficult past is mentioned but not deeply explored.