Priceless (Hors de Prix)

Jun 15 2008 Sunday Sun

DIRECTOR: Pierre Salvadori. CAST: Gad Elmaleh, Audrey Tautou, Marie-Christine Adam. Vernon Dobtcheff, Jacques Spiesser. RUNNING TIME: 105mins.

CONSIDERING the top-notch performances and relentlessly feel-good tone on display here, it’s difficult to see why Salvadori’s film has taken the best part of 18 months to make its way across the Channel.

Whatever the reason, Priceless is a lifesaver during a summer packed with sport and should be welcomed with open arms by the hordes of Euro 2008 widows who have had their fill of the big screen Sex And The City.

Shy bartender Jean — Gad Elmaleh — works in a luxury hotel in Biarritz, where he earns meagre tips as a dog walker and envies his beautiful, rich clients.

Among the guests is money-grabbing Irene — Audrey Tautou — and her latest sugar daddy, Jacques, who has the gall to fall asleep during her birthday celebrations.

Understandably disgruntled, Irene sneaks down to the bar where she mistakes dapper Jean for another millionaire guest . . . and proceeds to flirt with him.

Jean plays along with his pretty companion’s faux pas and they spend the night in the Imperial Suite, where a member of staff discovers them the next morning, and Irene realises her error.

She leaves in a hurry but Jean is smitten and follows her to Nice, where she exacts her revenge for his deception by accepting a dinner date — choosing the caviar, lobster and champagne — then bankrupts him on a shopping spree at the local top-end boutiques.

When all hope seems lost and lovesick Jean seems destined for the gutter, a wealthy widow installs him as her gigolo and teaches him the art of seduction.

Priceless is as light and airy as some of Tautou’s summery costumes, shifting the balance of power between Jean and Irene as he gives her a run for other people’s money.

The leading pair’s chemistry isn’t entirely believable, but both play their roles enthusiastically, with Elmaleh leaping up instinctively whenever anyone calls “waiter”.

Supporting characters are thinly sketched, so we don’t feel too sorry for them when they end up alone at the end credits. But hey, they can pay for someone to fill their emotional void.