The Intouchables

The night-time drive where Driss takes the Maserati up the esplanade, with the Eiffel Tower squarely in shot.

Access · Public space

The 1720s mansion where Driss turns up for his job interview, moves into his marble bathroom and finally gets everyone dancing to Earth, Wind & Fire at Philippe's birthday. It is the residence of the Dutch ambassador, so admire the carriage gate from the street; the courtyard opens only on Heritage Days.

Access · Exterior only; interior restricted. This is the Dutch ambassador's residence: apart from Heritage Days there are no visits, so photograph it from the street and don't ring.

After Philippe's night-time panic attack, Driss wheels him out into the dawn for fresh air and a cigarette, and they end up talking about his late wife on the terrace of this old literary café. The green awning and the two Chinese figurines inside look exactly as they do on screen.

Access · Open café

Driss unlocks the speed limiter on Philippe's wheelchair and the two of them race across this wooden footbridge, whooping, at a heady 12 km/h. The bridge links the Tuileries to the Musée d'Orsay and has one of the best open views of the Seine.

Access · Public space

Driss takes charge of buying earrings for Philippe's pen-pal Éléonore in this jeweller's, the first to open on Place Vendôme in 1893, and bargains as if he were at a market stall. The corner boutique still faces the column from the top of the square.

Access · Open shop

Coaxed by Driss and Yvonne, Philippe agrees to meet his pen-pal Éléonore at this café under the Palais-Royal colonnade, then loses his nerve before she arrives. The terrace under the arches, facing the Comédie-Française, is a fine place for a coffee any time of day.

Access · Open café

The opera outing where Driss cannot stop laughing at a tenor dressed as a singing tree was shot in this gilded 1898 house, not at the Palais Garnier. The façade with its loggia and caryatids faces a small square that is easy to miss between the Grands Boulevards and the Bourse.

Access · Ticket required for the interior

The colonnaded rotunda of this 18th-century palace beside the Musée d'Orsay flashes past in the film's night-time Maserati dash, when Driss floors it along the quais with Philippe grinning beside him. The museum inside is free and rarely crowded.

Access · Exterior only

The film's last scene: Driss (Omar Sy), the carer from the Paris suburbs, drives Philippe (François Cluzet), a rich man paralysed from the neck down, to the Normandy coast, leaves him at a restaurant table facing the sea and slips away. Then Éléonore, the woman Philippe has been writing letters to, arrives. It was filmed in this Belle Époque seafront hotel, also known as Marcel Proust's summer address, and the table by the sea has become a stop for fans of the film.

Access · The promenade and the beach are public. To sit in the restaurant, check opening times and book before you go.

Philippe, the wealthy man left paralysed by a paragliding accident, takes Driss, his carer, up a mountain for a tandem flight. Driss is terrified at take-off and then starts to enjoy it, while Philippe is flying again, strapped into a harness. The scene was filmed at the Col des Saisies ski area in Savoie; one location guide places the take-off on Mont Bisanne, just next to it.

Access · Open mountain area. Local operators run tandem paragliding flights; check weather, season, prices and times before you go.

Driss, the young man who becomes Philippe's carer, lives with his family in a crowded flat on a housing estate outside Paris, a world away from Philippe's mansion. Those suburban scenes were filmed in the public housing (HLM) blocks of northern Bondy, in Seine-Saint-Denis. The sources do not name the exact buildings, so this is a neighbourhood to see rather than one precise spot.

Access · A residential neighbourhood, not a tourist site: public streets only, no visitor facilities. Please be discreet.