Most people remember Intouchables (2011) for the friendship: Philippe, a wealthy Parisian paralyzed after a paragliding accident, and Driss, the young man from the suburbs he hires as his carer, who refuses to treat him with pity. They remember the laughter, the music, the car racing through Paris at night.
But running quietly through the film is a love story told almost entirely in letters.
A correspondence
Philippe has been writing to a woman named Éléonore, who lives in Dunkirk. They have never met. Their relationship exists only on paper: long letters, poetry, lines borrowed from Baudelaire. When Driss discovers it, he can't believe it. Why write when you can call? Why not send a photo?
Philippe's hesitation, in the end, is fear. On paper, Éléonore knows his mind. He's afraid of what will happen when she sees his body.
Driss pushes. A phone call. Photos exchanged. And in the film's final scene, by the sea in Cabourg, a lunch Philippe didn't see coming.
Being known before being seen
The letters let Philippe be met for who he is first: his humor, his intelligence, his taste, his tenderness. That's the strange gift of correspondence. Without faces, without voices, without first impressions, two people meet in the place where they think and feel.
We rarely get that today. We see someone's photos long before we know their thoughts. Letters reverse the order. They let you be known slowly, from the inside out.
A small invitation
Think of someone who only knows one side of you: a colleague, a neighbor, a friend you only see in groups. What would you write to them if you could only use words? You don't have to send it. But you might discover a side of yourself you rarely show.
Letters, still
If you miss being written to, the Letter & Magazine subscription brings a letter and a postcard to your mailbox every month, typed with care and finished with handwritten touches, with a meditation and a story about art inside, plus a seasonal issue of "(meditating) On Art". It also makes a lovely gift for someone who would rather read than scroll.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi