Priceless (Hors De Prix) by Perre Salvadori (2006)
30 March 2008I have dyeing to see a movie for quite some time, but there has been absolutely nothing out since last year, so when I heard a new Audrey Tautou movie, I knew I had to rush out and see it, and was not disappointed (and yes I have watched many movies in between this and the last review, but have been working so much and planning the honeymoon that I haven’t had a chance to do all the reviews that I have been planning to do). This is a wonderfully twisted very French Romantic Comedy that is a twist on Breakfast at Tiffany’s and is well worth seeing, in fact I would easily say it is the best film I have seen this year. It is a wonderful and hysterical romantic romp, only hurt by the fact the always cute Tautou is so skinny here you can see her ribs and her spine, and that is too much. This girl needs to eat some food with butter, or maybe even a hamburger, I mean being that skinny can not be healthy at all!
Jean (Gad Elmaleh) works at an expensive hotel in Paris, doing every duty imaginable from walking the guests dogs to working as bartender at the posh bar. At the hotel is a young and beautiful (if too skinny) gold-digger named Irène (Audrey Tautou), who’s “boyfriend” the old but rich Jacques (Vernon Dobtcheff) has fallen asleep on her, so she heads down to the hotel bar. Jean meanwhile has been forced to drink with and smoke a 100 Euros Cigar with a patron, so passed out on a couch, Irène mistakes him for a rich man. Jean pretends to sneak behind the bar and make her drinks, then takes her up to the nicest suite in the hotel and sleeps with her, but she is gone in the morning, having left with Jacques. A year later Irène and Jacques return to the hotel, and Jacques gives her an engagement ring. Jean is again in his tuxedo, waiting tables, but when he sees her, he pulls his tie, and plays the rich man, sneaking off, and once again sees her at the hotel bar and sleeps with her again. That morning Irène sneaks out, but Jacques is up, and he takes her engagement ring and kicks her out, so she returns to Jean, pretending she left Jacques for him, but they are quickly caught when a family is brought into the suite, and they are found in bed, and he is exposed as a hotel worker.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Irène has lost everything, and leaves him Jean heading to a costal resort town, and going through her black book and trying to find a new mark, eventually making a date with the grandson of one her old marks, but the date is screwed up when Jean shows up to apologize. Having lost her best chance, she decides to take advantage of him, making him spend all of his money and investments buying her clothes and jewels and a room at the finest hotel, and when he runs out of money, she goes to leave, but he pulls out his last Euro to get an extra 10 seconds with her, but then she is gone.
Jean returns to the hotel and can’t afford his bill, and they are about to call the cops, when an older woman he accidently grabbed the bags of earlier (accidently slipping back into bell hop mode) names Agnès (Annelise Hesme) asks him to take her little bag, and take her to his room, and she covers the expenses, and suddenly he is just like Irène. And he is getting clothes bought for, and competing with Irène to get the better stuff, as he doesn’t get much, but when he uses what she taught him he gets a 30,000 Euro watch, and much more.
And we can see Irène getting jealous, though she tries to play it off, as she works on her new mark, and tries to get all she can.
Eventually her new mark catches her with Jean, and throws her out, so she is trapped waiting for Jean to fetch her bag from the train station so she can pay her bill, but instead he sells his watch and buys her a week in the hotel to get her back on her feet and molifies Agnès by giving her jewelry. She ends up giving him a bunch of new clothes, and even a scooter.
Jean then steals Agnès’ invite to a huge party so Irène can get a new mark, but at the party is Jacques with a new girl, so Irène gets Jean to help her, an tricks Jacques new girl into thinking he is a rich prince, so she can move in on Jacques, but when at the hotel she sees Jean with the other girl, she is jealous, and finally realizes her love. Irène leaves Jaques and goes to Jean and the two of them leave together on his scooter, hopefully to a happy, if not well off life together.
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A really cute movie, I laughed really hard, and really enjoyed it and the performances of Gad and Audrey and fantastic. This is what a romantic comedy should be instead of what it usually is. A great cast and a fun script, if only Audrey Tautou would go and eat something!!!!