Hors de Prix

Hors de Prix [Priceless] (2006) starring Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Marie-Christine Adam, and Vernon Dobtcheff.

Before...not much to say on this one...hadn't heard of it before and it was a film I saw and decided to watch it without any prior knowledge really. Audrey Tautou was fantastic in Amélie, Dirty Pretty Things, and Un long dimanche de fiançailles [A very long engagement] so I felt that it was a sure bet that this wouldn't be a bad film.

On the Riviera with her elderly provider (Dobtcheff) to celebrate her birthday, Irene (Tautou) slips down to the hotel bar when he falls asleep on her. She mistakes barman Jean (Elmaleh) for a well-healed guest and he encourages the deceit by taking her up to the Royal Suite for the night. A year later the same thing happens but this time her lover finds out and disowns her. Now knowing Jean is indeed a barman of little means doesn't stop her from continuing to live in style until his money is gone. He soon finds himself in Irene's business with older and worldly-wise Madeleine (Adam), and though Irene also takes up with a new paramour the two of them keep in increasingly close touch.

So where to start...the real issue I have with this film is it's sickly sweet nature. The film is very much a romantic comedy, in way of jokes and style and the whole set up, it is very much set in it's genre and in some ways it is weird that this is a problem. I mean is it a problem that Kramer vs Kramer is a drama, or Dodgeball is a comedy. This issue that I have with the film at most is a very small one that really doesn't effect the outcome of my review. Ultimately the issue that I have is not about it's sickly nature but more the fact that it's highly predictable.

Despite it's predictability the film is fantastically stylish. Then again, I cannot name a French movie that doesn't have a slick stylish nature to them. The focus of the film steers happily away from vulgar crass jokes and focuses itself around human comedy, which is does brilliantly. Tautou's comic timing again resurfaces after being shown in Amelie. Both her and Elmaleh have a fantastic chemistry both in a relationship sense and also in a sexual chemistry sense.

The casting of this movie is brilliant. Tautou moves away from her sweet innocent role that she has become known for in the mainstream, instead she is presented with a more complex character. One that is darker naughtier, and much more of a bad girl. She plays it fantastically. Elmaleh also plays a brilliant role, someone who has far more morals. Not only that but like Irene he plays it with charm and sophistication.

What I like most about it is that at it's heart it is a movie that truly cares about it's characters. None of the characters come out in a bad way, all are seen to be real people and none are made out to be fools. The fantastic thing about the film is that by the end of it all you have a real feel good feeling about it.

For me Priceless is one of the best rom-com's I have seen in a while, it may not be the most original film I have seen but it does what it says on the tin. It is a fantastically funny and light-hearted film that makes you smile, which is why I am giving this film...

★★★★☆