''The Specials'' (french: Hors normes) is a 2019 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano are French filmmakers, best known for directing the films '' Those Happy Days'' and ''The Intouchables'' (2011). Early life Nakache and Toledano are both Jewish. Nakache was born to Jewish migrant parents fro ...

. It was screened out of competition at the

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president. The Palme d'Or went to the South Korean film ''Parasite'', directed by Bong Joon-ho; Bong became t ...

. The film is inspired by the true story of Stéphane Benhamou and Daoud Tatou

Plot

Bruno (

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film '' La Haine (Hate)'', for which he received two César Award ...

) runs an organization helping people with autism by finding job placements and activities for them outside of the confines of the institutionalized hospital setting, along with Malik (

Reda Kateb Reda Kateb ( ar, رضا كاتب; born 27 July 1977) is a French actor. Life and career Kateb was born in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, to an Algerian actor, Malek-Eddine Kateb, and a French nurse of Czech and Italian origin. He is a grandnephew of t ...

), who certifies teenagers from Paris's rough neighborhoods to care for autistic patients. Bruno continually hires more staff despite his organization's financial problems. His organization is also under investigation by the social affairs inspector for operating without a license. Bruno gets Joseph, his oldest patient, a job at a

washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a home appliance used to wash laundry. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids and ...

manufacturer, but Joseph struggles with the temptation to pull fire alarms on

metro trains Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the franchise operator of the electrified suburban passenger service on the Melbourne rail network. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation (6 ...

during his commute. One of Malik's students, Dylan, works with a patient named Valentin. Dylan struggles with appreciating the value of the program and is disrespectful toward Malik, who is training them to receive certificates to work with autistic children.

Cast

as Bruno *

as Malik * Helene Vincent * Bryan Mialoundama * Lyna Khoudri as Ludivine * Alban Ivanov * Benjamin Lesieur * Marco Locatelli * Catherine Mouchet * Frederic Pierrot * Suliane Brahim

Reception

The film received highly positive reviews. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 82%.

References

External links

* 2019 films 2019 drama films French drama films 2010s French-language films Films directed by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano 2010s French films Films about disability {{2010s-drama-film-stub