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This entertaining French comedy romp is refreshingly unapologetic for its utter lack of morality. “Priceless,” directed by Pierre Salvatori and teaming Audrey Tautou and Gad Elmaleh, is built around the art of fleecing, deceiving and selling one’s body, if not one’s soul, to convenient bidders. When all of this is going on along the French Rivera, the look adds to the demented charm.
Tautou plays Irène, who prostitutes herself by ensnaring rich men who’ll keep her as trophy. Her life has been built around living it up on the arms of men who can afford her. On the other hand, Gad Elmaleh as Jean is an honest bartender in chic hotel. But his life begins to change when Irene mistakes him for a rich patron and he goes along with the error, leading to a night of sex with her. When she finds out, she is furious, especially having lost her latest wealthy meal ticket as a result.
The comedy of errors continues when Marie-Christine Adam as the wealthy widow Madeleine makes Jean her kept toy-boy. He goes along with it with a clear conscience up to a point. Meanwhile, Irène is on the hunt for a new keeper.
Will Irène and Jean come to their senses and find true love out of this immoral morass? The screenplay by Salvadori and Benoît Graffin keeps the story spinning amusingly and avoids the sort of maneuvers a Hollywood movie would tend to adopt to soften what is occurring. While “Priceless” may be more light-headed than memorable, it manages to be pleasantly diverting and a showcase for its two talented, appealing stars. A Samuel Goldwyn Films release.
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