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PRICELESS
Directed by Pierre Salvadori
Produced by Philippe Martin
Written by Salvadori & Benoît Graffin
Director of Photography, Gilles Henry
Edited by Isabelle Devinck
Music by Camille Bazbaz
Released by Samuel Goldwyn Film
Language: French with English subtitles
France. 104 min. PG-13
With Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Marie-Christine Adam, Vernon Dobtcheff, Jacques Spiesser & Annelise Hesme

The gamine of Amélie has gone missing. In this French box office hit, Audrey Tautou transforms herself into a sex kitten with a heart of plastic – Visa, MasterCard, or American Express – adorned in traffic-stopping designer frocks; expect a run on anything by Chanel, regardless of the current economic outlook.

It’s not just the opening, jazzy Henry Mancini-like score that’s retro. Tautou’s Irène is the latest gold digger let loose on the French Riviera (as long as he has a pulse, he’ll do), not unlike Claudette Colbert in Midnight, or a heartless Holly Golightly. But co-writer/director Pierre Salvadori softens the sexism. True, for a striking young woman who can insinuate herself into the poshest of surroundings Monte Carlo has to offer, you would think that she could easily apply her brains to another endeavor, but in Priceless’s world, where a designer label carries the biggest cachet, everyone, regardless of gender, can be bought.

For her birthday, she has been brought to the Côte d’Azur by a sugar daddy at least twice her age. While he slumbers, she sneaks off for a nightcap, finding the bar completely deserted, except for Jean, who has fallen asleep on a settee. Too embarrassed to confess that he is the bartender and has fallen asleep on the job, Jean plays along with her assumption that he’s a guest at the four-star hotel, given that he’s dressed in a tux and looks the part. Although close to her in age, he’s stunned by this sort of attention from this sort of woman. Once he steps behind the bar to make Irène a drink, and one for himself at her insistence, all his inhibitions vanish.

With the exception of the quietly steadfast Jean, the other characters are ruthless in their pursuits of sex, wealth, or youth. A romantic comedy with a sting, Priceless is winsome on its own terms. In its precision as a farce and inventive use of sight gags, it’s a throwback to the unsentimental comedies of ’30s Hollywood, and as cynical as the Billy Wilder films of the ’60s (perhaps not as dark a view of human behavior as The Apartment, but lighter than Kiss Me, Stupid). Given that Wilder was born in Vienna and worked in Europe before he hit Hollywood, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that an adroit follower of his jaded sensibility would be from France.

The role of Irène gives Tautou a wide range to roam, allowing her, briefly, to become the most unlikable female character in some time. Even if she were wearing a potato sack, she would upstage her co-star Gad Elmaleh, who has to make the most difficult transition, from the lackey of the rich to a gigolo. Since the self-effacing Jean would rather sink into the background than be noticed, Elmaleh’s performance is deadpan compared to Tautou’s charisma; his stone face exterior makes his turnabout decisions even more surprising. Kent Turner
March 28, 2008