Priceless film review

certificate_12A

PRICELESS

Priceless is a lavish confection of a French comedy which is sumptuously shot, benefits from two appealing lead performances, but is only surface deep. The conceit might have worked better in a sitcom format as at full length it soon outstays its welcome and becomes a matter of two characters in search of a decent plotline.

Audrey Tautou (the star of Amelie) is Irene, a gold-digger and seductress who plies her trade in the elite hotels of the French Riviera. Her victims are crinkly creatures who indulge her every whim (usually an expensive shopping trip), until she meets Jean (Gad Elmaleh) a lonely and lowly hotel porter, who, for the sake of the plot, she mistakenly believes to be a young millionaire.

After a night of passion, Irene discovers the truth and flees the scene but Jean follows her. What follows is an increasingly convoluted storyline in which Irene teaches Jean the tricks of her trade while avoiding the very obvious fact that the two are falling for each other.

Tautou and Elmaleh make an attractive pairing, with him as an excellent comic foil to her tantalising character. But this is empty fare, morally quite questionable - Irene's whole modus operandi is based on deceit, excess and selfishness, so it's not exactly easy to identify with her.

Still, those looking for an unthreatening and periodically enjoyable summer cinema experience should find something to like here and it certainly puts one in the mood for going on an expensive foreign trip.

Paul Hurley