Priceless

A lighthearted diversion, Priceless is a pleasantly acted French film that touches on the issue of climbing the social/financial ladder, yet never veers into melodrama or unnecessarily serious territory. When referring to the moment in a romcom that the lovebirds catch each other's eye for the first time, Roger Ebert calls it the "Meet Cute" and in the case of Priceless we get a Meet Cute between Irene (Audrey Tautou) and Jean (Gad Elmaleh) that doesn't feel contrived, despite how unlikely the situation is (especially their repeat meeting a year later). This initial segment of the film is pretty good.

The second segment, which thankfully isn't too long, is perhaps the weakest part of the film, featuring Irene taunting Jean by forcing him to spend an inordinate amount of cash on her, ordering caviar, booking a suite and going on a shopping spree. It sort of turns Irene into a hateful caricature, even if redemption does come later on. I found it to be the most irksome part of the film, which is why I was glad that it quickly moved on to what is probably the movie's central aspect, which involves Jean acquiring a male version of Irene's role, seducing older rich people in order to enjoy the high life. Irene and Jean sort of become accomplices, and the movie is usually at its best in the scenes that feature Irene explaining what his next move should be or demonstrating outrage at the fact that all he got out of the older woman he's with is a watch and an expensive breakfast. These scenes are good because in addition to displaying the complicity between the two characters, you can feel the romantic awkwardness that is going on, yet it is never made so blatantly obvious that you feel like you're watching a standard romantic comedy.

Priceless isn't hilarious, but it is an often witty and observant work of cinema. Definitely the funniest scene is the one in which Jean calls the suite in which Irene and the rich older man she's with are staying, pretends to be room service and begins asking the older man tons of questions and then continues calling relentlessly. More moments like that would have made Priceless even better, but it still is worth watching, and the two leads are very good. They're not necessarily the most appealing pair we've ever seen (Elmaleh isn't particularlly handsome, and I couldn't help but cringe every time Tautou showed up in a revealing dress and you could so clearly see the bones under her collarbone area), but their performances are still solid, which is crucial, not only for their totally awkward on-screen romance to come across as genuine, but also for the film to work as a whole.

6/10