PRICELESS (HORS DE PRIX)

Jean (Gad Elmaleh), seorang pelayan pemalu disebuah hotel mewah, menyamar sebagai seorang milioner untuk menarik perhatian Irene (Audrey Taotou), seorang pengembara yang menemani pria-pria kaya untuk mebayar semua tagihannya. Saat Irene mengetahui siapa Jean sesungguhnya, ia melarikan diri. Namun, Jean yang sedang jatuh cinta pergi mengejarnya, dan menemukan Irene di Côte d'Azur. Agar tujuannya tercapai, ia meniru gaya hidup orang yang ia cintai. Selangkah demi selangkah, hubungan mereka makin intim….
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Ceritanya sederhana, tapi sangat memukau karakternya JEAN dan IRENE. Kedua kebiasaan mereka sangat kental, dan kita akan segera tahu kebiasaan mereka. Sukses peran kedua peran yang mereka bawakan. Yang intinya, cinta butuh pengorbanan, dan tidak ada yang pernah tahu kapan datangnya. Walau terkadang kita sedang disakiti oleh orang yang dikasihi. Tapi, cinta itu memang ada! dont lie what you feel about love!

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After watching Casino Royale, totally uninspired and dejected, I decided to go to the Palace Cinema and catch one of the French movies playing there, leftovers from the French Film Festival.

After Tracy's review of Priceless, called Hors de Prix in French, I thought, Why not?, and sat down to another typical French comedy, with Audrey Tautou and Gad Elmaleh at the helm.

In much the same way as Casino Royale was predictable, so was Priceless. The end of the movie is completely transparent from the very start of the film, and you could almost write the script yourself just from the synopsis.

Something was different, though, because Priceless is a thoroughly enjoyable film. Should it be?

It's a typical French comedy - light and breezy, with French humour throughout, shots of elegance and wealth abounding, with the atmosphere that is prevalent in most of the comedies to come from the country.

Here's a poor quality trailer, with english subtitles. A better quality trailer without subtitles is here.

Why did I enjoy it? I'm not sure...perhaps because I'm not French, so their sense of humour feels refreshing and different. The equivalent movie from Hollywood would probably make me dry heave with the horrible dialogue and cheesy romance.

Maybe it's because Tautou and Elmaleh are so comfortable in their roles that it all comes clean on the screen. Maybe because we see so much of Tautou's skin in this film (no, that's not why).

I've never been to France, but these types of movies always make the entire country seem glorious. Perhaps that's the point, to make French movies as an advertisment pour La France. After all, Priceless is nonstop shots of expensive shops, beautiful skylines, clean beaches, beautiful women and delicate spirits drunk in comfortable hotels.

Whatever the reasons, it was on a grey, rainy Sunday evening that I saw this film, and felt washed and refreshed - it's not remarkable, nor memorable, but Priceless does suit it's role... it cheered me up and gave me something to laugh at.