Role model for “Pretty Best Friends”: Philippe Pozzo di Borgo is dead

As director Eric Toledano told the AFP news agency on Friday, Pozzo di Borgo, who has been paralyzed for three decades, died in Marrakesh, Morocco, at the age of 72.

Toledano was one of the two directors of the 2011 released “The Best of Friends”, the film was one of the highest-grossing French films of all time and was nominated for an Oscar, among other things. Pozzo di Borgo’s death was “a shock” and above all a reason for “great sadness”, said the director. The two stayed in touch after “Pretty Best Friends” and continued to work together.

Philippe Pozzo di Borgo was born in 1951 into a noble Corsican family. The head of a champagne manufacturer fell while paragliding in 1993 and has been paralyzed ever since. In his book “Le Second souffle”, published in 2001, Pozzo di Borgo told how, thanks to the help of his carer Abdel Yasmin Sellou, he found his way out of a deep depression after the accident.

The story became the basis of ‘The Best of Friends’, directed by Toledano and Olivier Nakache. Upon its release in 2011, the film, starring François Cluzet and Omar Sy, became a box office hit in France. It was released in cinemas in around 50 countries around the world, and the film enjoyed remarkable success in Germany.

Sy was awarded the César for Best Actor in 2012 for his acting performance. On Friday after Pozzo di Borgo’s death became known, he wrote on Instagram: “Forever in our hearts”.