Priceless (film)

Priceless
Directed by	Pierre Salvadori
Produced by	Philippe Martin
Written by	Pierre Salvadori Benoît Graffin
Starring	Gad Elmaleh Audrey Tautou Marie-Christine Adam
Music by	Camille Bazbaz
Cinematography	Gilles Henry
Editing by	Isabelle Devinck
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	November 18, 2006 (France)
Running time	104 min.
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	$27,923,430

Priceless (French: Hors de prix) is a 2006 French film directed by Pierre Salvadori, who says it was adapted from the 1961 Blake Edwards film, Breakfast at Tiffany's, though the synopsis lays out more like the 1958 novella of the same name written by Truman Capote.

Plot

Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a shy waiter at a luxury hotel, pretends to be a millionaire and awakens the interest of Irène (Audrey Tautou), a gold digger who makes wealthy men pay her bills. Irene's elderly lover gets drunk and falls asleep on her birthday so she goes to the bar in the hotel where she and Jean meet. He uses his barman skills to make her impressive cocktails, then he takes her up to the imperial suite where they spend the night. A year later Irène returns to her hotel with Jacques, who asks her to marry him. Later that day Jean and Irène sleep together again but Jacques sees them and breaks off the engagement. Irène returns to Jean pretending she gave up Jacques to be with him, but they are discovered in the Imperial Suite. When Irène discovers who Jean really is, she escapes. However, Jean is in love and goes after her, finding her at Côte d'Azur. Pursuing her, he spends all the money to his name to pay for her presence, including his savings and pension plan, until he uses his final euro for "10 more seconds".

When she leaves him for richer men and he is left with a hotel bill he can't pay, he is picked up by a wealthy widow and assumes the lifestyle of the one he pursues. Now that they are "equals", she teaches him the tricks of gold-digging and he soon wheedles a €30,000 watch from his supporter, because he sulked after she forced him to have plastic surgery on his ear. He continues to prove himself a skillful gold digger when she later gives him a scooter. Jean and Irène steal away from their patrons at every chance they get, getting designer clothes and fancy food, until, on the morning of Irene's departure to Venice with her patron, he catches them kissing, on the balcony of Jean's hotel room.

Furious, he leaves her with nothing but a sarong and the swim suit she is wearing. Jean sells his watch to buy her a week's stay in their hotel and a gorgeous evening gown. He also gives her an invitation to a party which they both attend. Jean's patron is at first furious with his selling the watch, but is calmed and pleased when he gives her a beautiful pair of earrings he also bought with the money.

Irène shows up at the party and sees Jacques with another woman, and decides to steal him back with Jean's help. Even though his patron dumps him, Jean pretends to be a wealthy prince and seduces Jacques' new girlfriend, and Irène takes Jacques up to his room across from Jean's. Hoping he will catch his woman with Jean, she at first tries to direct his attention to the window, but finds herself in love with Jean. She runs to his room, leaving her chance at a glamorous lifestyle, and tells Jean of her feelings. The movie ends as they ride off on his scooter to Italy, using the euro coin for the toll.

Cast

• Audrey Tautou: Irène
• Gad Elmaleh: Jean
• Marie-Christine Adam: Madeleine
• Vernon Dobtcheff: Jacques
• Jacques Spiesser: Gilles
• Annelise Hesme: Agnès

Critical reception

English language speaking critics gave the film strong positive reviews. As of May 1, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 82% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 45 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 72 out of 100, based on 20 reviews.

External links

• Official site (French)
• Priceless at the Internet Movie Database
• Priceless at AllRovi
• Priceless at Box Office Mojo
• Priceless at Rotten Tomatoes
• Priceless at Metacritic