Friday, April 18, 2008

Movie review: Priceless (Hors de Prix)

By Alex Bentley

If there’s a certain axiom that’s been proven true time and again, it’s that anything sounds better if you say it in French. There’s just a patina of class that’s added to dialogue when you give it that … je ne sais quoi. That goes double for Priceless (Hors de Prix), a bauble of a film that goes up in esteem not only because it’s almost entirely in French but also because it stars the alluring Audrey Tautou (Amelie).

Tautou plays Irene, a shameless gold digger who preys on old, lonely, and, most importantly, rich men. While at a hotel with another one of her conquests, she has a one-night fling with Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a bartender whom she mistakes for another moneymaking possibility. Jean quickly becomes obsessed with Irene, to the point of following her to her next stop and spending tons of money on her that he doesn’t have. Through a set of circumstances too contrived to be believed, Jean ends up as the boy toy of Madeleine (Marie-Christine Adam, a dead ringer for Lauren Bacall), a rich woman who happens to be staying at the same hotel.

Jean and Irene in yet another sticky situation.

The rest of the film plays out in wacky fashion, with the situation of Irene teaching Jean how to best exploit his sugar mama being juxtaposed with Irene and Jean’s inability to stop their attraction for each other. And here’s where the inherent French-ness of the film comes into play. If this were an American film, rolled eyes and exasperated sighs from this critic would accompany every inane plot twist or reversal of feelings. In French, those things elicit charmed chuckles and a slight shaking of the head. Oh, sure, not once is it believable that either of these two actually likes the other; their respective actions should make the other run as far away as possible, not fall in love. But something about how the film is put together keeps you captivated in spite of the absurdity of the plot.

Just look at her; Audrey Tautou is irresistible.

Then, of course, there’s the attractiveness of the two leads. Tautou has the rare ability to play both an innocent naïf and a heartless seductress. She shows off both skills at various points in the film, with equal success. Elmaleh is a Moroccan actor who effortlessly moves between fumbling buffoon and debonair man-about-town, while still radiating virtue at every step.

Priceless is harmless fun that should keep you engaged despite your better instincts. If you don’t think too hard about why nothing in the film should come across as well as it does, you’ll be thoroughly entertained.

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