François Cluzet

At the opera in The Intouchables (2011), François Cluzet lets Omar Sy supply the energy without giving him all the work. His Philippe stays alert to Driss, ready to respond rather than simply receive another helping of good spirits. We laughed because their timing makes the clash of tastes feel spontaneous. Cluzet is particularly good company here: he gives a quieter character enough humour and attention to make the partnership feel equal.

That international familiarity followed years of dramatic work with directors including Claude Chabrol, Bertrand Tavernier and Claire Denis through the 1980s and 1990s. Chabrol's L'Enfer (1994) explores jealousy and psychological tension, a useful reminder of the troubled characters elsewhere in Cluzet's work. Guillaume Canet's Tell No One (2006) brought major recognition for a leading role. He returned to Canet for Little White Lies (2010), playing an irritable character.

Cluzet has said he prefers acting silently, and Philippe is a good place to see what he means. Small movements and changes of gaze let us follow a character whose physical activity is limited. He also values parts that allow vulnerability or ridicule, which helps explain why his restraint does not feel solemn. Philippe can enjoy the joke, and Cluzet keeps our attention on the exchange with Sy rather than on the difficulty of the acting.

Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache lean hard on the contrast between Philippe, a wealthy aristocrat, and Driss, his carer. Their tidy handling of class and race is a real weakness, however agreeable the company becomes. Cluzet and Sy make the friendship convincing, but they cannot give the story risks the script will not take. It is worth an evening with that reservation, and Cluzet deserves his share of the credit for keeping the exchanges lively. Start here for the comic timing, then try Tell No One for the dramatic work that preceded it.