Remaking the French blockbuster for a US audience is challenging as Americans respond to humor or cultural references differently. How does “The Upside” differ from the original French movie, “The Intouchables”?
On Sunday, in the middle of our first snowstorm of 2019, I decided to walk to the nearby movie theater. It was a good trek of 2.5 miles that I didn’t expect to go uphill, and more than half of my journey involved plodding through snow as deep as my calf. I was very proud of myself because I arrived before the movie started! If you live in the Washington, DC area, you know that driving my car wasn’t an option due to the state of the roads. So, which movie I was so eager to watch?
“The Upside” came to movie theaters on January 11 and was not completely new to me as it’s the American remake of “The Intouchables,” a French blockbuster of 2012.
The comedy is about the unlikely friendship between Phillip, a paralyzed upper east side businessman, and Dell, a convicted felon who works as his caretaker. In both the French and American versions, race is added to the mix, with one of them characters being white and the other one black. Can you guess who is who? Yes, it’s cliché: in my humble opinion, the setup works better in the French film than in the US movie. More on that later.
Back to cultural differences in the movies. The teaser that I saw first on Twitter showed a familiar scene from the original but lacking one element. Let me explain.
The Upside: how does it compare to the original French movie?
Altogether, “The Upside” shows few differences compared to the original. New actors, new locations—except for a few details, the story is the same. It makes it easy to see where the differences are.
Earth, Wind & Fire is featured in the original movie, while Aretha Franklin is the American reference. The Italian luxury car driven by Dell is a Ferrari in New York but a Maserati in Paris. Phillip’s personal assistant is a lesbian in the original, but not so in “The Upside.” Dell’s son is a cousin in the French movie, which also features more characters in supporting roles.
But, back to the scene I saw on Twitter.
At one point, Dell is shaving Phillip’s beard. Before giving him a clean shave, he uses Philip’s forced immobility to design different mustaches. In the French version (see below), the last one (a “Hitler” mustache) takes up a good part of the scene. In the American movie, it’s so short that I’m not sure that the intention to show the dictator is even recognizable.
Coincidence or respect for cultural differences?
Since “The Upside” has recycled many parts of the original, I wondered why it wasn’t pushing the Hitler gag harder. Is it out of respect for the six million victims of Jewish faith?
I’m also asking myself if this could be a simple cultural difference in humor? Or, is it more the need to be politically correct for the American audience? However, when it came to the cast, the director didn’t hesitate in casting an African-American actor as a paroled convict. How cliché is that?
I can think of several French or German movies I knew had been remade for the US. “The Birdcage” and “Just Visiting” (both French originals) or “City of Angels” (German) were the first names to come to my mind, and also the only ones I remembered seeing as originals and as American versions.
Maybe because I first saw them in France or Germany, I found the American movies less funny or lacking depth. As Forbes stated in August 2015, “Remaking foreign films for domestic audiences requires more than translation.”
What else is obviously different in The Upside?
I can only think of one other scene.
One of the very funny moments of the movie is when Kevin Hart (Dell) refuses to change Philipp’s catheter. Are penis jokes less common in France? I wouldn’t say so. However, the French movie uses this scene to depict dressing and showering the paraplegic, making fun of his newly hired life-auxiliary. The French jokes would have worked also in the US.
American movies are traditionally well distributed in Europe and also very successful. When I researched the topic of cultural differences in movies, I learned that American movies adapt some scenes in order to appeal to non-American audiences. But, I couldn’t find references to American movies completely remade for a foreign audience.
Should you go to the cinema and watch The Upside?
If you know the original, don’t go to this one. You may be disappointed.
If you haven’t seen the original, I would rather buy the English DVD, or stream it on Amazon Prime Video. Why? Personally, I preferred the dynamic between the actors, and the charisma of Omar Sy, who played Dell in the French version. I think that the director couldn’t decide if Kevin Hart should stick to his comic side or go into a more dramatic role. The movie could have benefited from a more American adaptation as both the original and remake are cliché-driven. When Dell suddenly likes the opera, for example, I don’t buy it.
I laughed at the cinema yesterday, but I laughed even more when watching “The Intouchables.” Even after seeing it more than a couple of times, I’ve enjoyed it every single time. I wouldn’t watch “The Upside” again, even on TV. It simply doesn’t add anything to the original story.
