A Tautou Souffleby gradyharp

Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings

December 14, 2008: PRICELESS ( Hors de Prix) manages to puff along on its rather slim story line and keep the audience interested primarily due to the presence of Audrey Tautou. Though the script by Benoît Graffin and Pierre Salvador is loaded with good lines and despite the fact that director Pierre Salvadori manages to keep the appearance of the film full of glossy fun, the story thins after the first hour and pleads for some tighter editing.

The location is the French Riviera and the action takes place in the elegant Biarritz Hotel where we discover Irène (Audrey Tautou) as a gold digger whose career focus is finding a man of wealth who can support her expensive tastes. Tautou has never looked more glamorous than she does here and we can understand why the sugar daddies of the world vie for her attention. While preparing for her birthday celebration, Irène takes too long dressing and her current paramour falls asleep. Not wanting to be alone on her special day she goes in all her resplendent glory to the hotel bar. There she meets Jean (Gad Elmaleh) who happens to be the bartender and hotel employee but who Irène mistakes for a man of wealth. Their mutual attraction, despite the mismatch of perceptions, results in a wild night of love - Jean being careful not to allow Irène to know of his true status as a poor worker. A year passes and the two meet again under similar circumstances and as the true identities are unveiled Irène teaches Jean how to be a gigolo, only to have the tables turn in a predictable way.

This is a bit of French fluff and goes on far too long, but there is Tautou on the screen, beautiful and buoyant and irresistible - and that makes up for a lot. In French with English subtitles. Grady Harp

This review was written about the DVD Wide Screen edition.