No, the film is inspired by a true story discovered by the directors in a 2004 documentary film entitled A la vie, a la mort, which told the story of the encounter between Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, a quadriplegic, and a young man named Abdel. The story was also told in a memoir entitled "Tu as changé ma vie..." ("You Changed My Life") by Abdel Sellou, but it was published in 2012, after the movie was made. Also, somewhat similarly, an account of their lives before and after the film by Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, "Le Second Souffle", was published in France in 2001, (and in 2012, in English, as "A Second Wind"). Both books remark that the writers-directors took some liberties with the actual events, Phillippe saying in an "Afterword," "The constraints of the film led the directors to simplify, change, cut, or invent many scenes."
