In Pierre Salvadori's romantic Gallic comedy, lovely, perky Audrey Tautou (Amélie) stars as gold-digger Irène, who—while spending time at a five-star Biarritz hotel with an aging sugar daddy—seduces bumbling but hardworking waiter Jean (Gad Elmaleh), whom she mistakes for an even richer catch. Thus begins a love affair in which, under Irène's tutelage, Jean becomes a wealthy dowager's kept man while Irène continues to search for an elderly tycoon whom she can marry—and the pair continue to cheat on their benefactors with each other. Priceless never moves into explicitly seamy (or steamy) territory, but there's an unpleasant feel to much of the goings-on here: viewers are supposed to find the couple charming and root for them to wind up together, but that's difficult because she's a complete mercenary and he's such a sad sack (the part of the plot revolving around Jean's instruction in the art of sexual grifting is particularly off-putting, even if the marks are no more appealing than the perpetrators). Shot on sumptuous locations along the French coast, Priceless is Tiffany quality on a visual level, but in terms of content it's considerably less sparkling. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Blu-ray extras include 36 minutes of deleted scenes, six minutes of outtakes, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)
Priceless
First Look, 102 min., in French w/English subtitles, R, DVD: $28.99, Blu-ray: $34.99, Nov. 18 Volume 23, Issue 6
Priceless
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