To see at the cinema: A difficult year, a new success for the directors of The Untouchables? With Jonathan Cohen, Pio Marmai and Noemi Merlant

Ever since they came close to becoming the biggest French hit of all time with Intouchables in 2011, each new film from Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache has been an event. Hitting theaters on October 18, it’s been a tough year, especially since the directors haven’t been on the big screen since 2019’s Hors Normes.

But after being on Arte, they did not stay idle, thanks to two seasons in the series therapy. Inspired, as they regularly do, by current affairs and in particular the aftermath of the November 13, 2015 attacks and detentions.

Covid, which was also the starting point for a difficult year, as Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache told us in an interview behind the presentation of the film at Club AlloCiné. A stop in between the 140 previews they organized to promote their new baby, and where they say they were mindful of the debate and reactions they provoked.

Themes are more timely every day

In their world, the two newcomers (Noemi Merlant and Jonathan Cohen) and Pio Marmay, who they find after therapy, a difficult year talks about especially excessive consumption and excessive debt, as well as the climate emergency. Which, as key stakeholders acknowledge, they are “Subjects that are more in tune with the times every day”. Even hotter today than when the feature film was written and filmed.

As always, Eric Toledano and Olivier Nacche talk about modern topics with lightness and a desire to be inspired by Italian comedy. Building a bridge between two worlds, two generations on the screen. And to get the audience to ask questions between bursts of laughter.

Comments collected by Maximilien Pierret in Paris on September 18, 2023 – Frame: Alexandre Kour – Editing: Chanel Morvan