Cognition of human relationships in *The Intouchables*: a multimodal psycholinguistic analysis of language, gestures and gaze
Abstract
This research examines how language, gesture, and gaze interact to shape the cognition of human relationships in the film Intouchables. While psycholinguistics has primarily focused on speech, writing, and language acquisition, cinema remains a relatively underexplored field despite its multimodal potential. Drawing on Chomsky’s transformational-generative grammar and the MDB-GSG model (speech, gesture, gaze), the study analyzes segmented dialogic sequences in order to identify deep and surface structures, syntactic transformations, as well as the interactional functions of non-verbal cues. The findings reveal that humor serves as a major cognitive and interactional mechanism, capable of defusing stigmatization and reinforcing complicity between Philippe, a tetraplegic aristocrat, and Driss, a caregiver of immigrant background. The analysis further shows that syntactic ambiguity, when amplified by gestures and gazes, produces effects of intimacy and solidarity that transform difference into closeness. By bringing syntax and multimodality into dialogue, this study proposes a transferable analytical framework, contributing to the renewal of contemporary debates in psycholinguistics and film studies.
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Film cité :
Nakache, O., & Toledano, É. (Directeurs). (2011). Intouchables (Film). Quad Productions / Gaumont.
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