This is a classic case of moral ambivalence. Audrey Tautou, hypnotising us as usual with her big soulful eyes, plays someone of less than salubrious character, in fact a totally amoral gold-digger. The film is actually a study of gold-digging. Gad Elmaleh is the hapless intoxicant, drowning in the beauty of Audrey, a kind of Tautouholic, and who cannot understand that? So he starts out straight and gets sucked into this world of sell yourself for cash, and sticks with it because while they are in the same luxury hotels being paid to be sex toys by rich older people, he gets to spend his spare moments with her. The girlie friendship between them as prostitute colleagues drives him crazy because he loves her, but it is the only way he can be near her. The film has many hilarious moments, if being a prostitute is hilarious, and the story is about whether Audrey will discover what is 'beyond price', namely that thing called love. Audrey's talent for mania comes out especially in the scene where she goes wild with lust for a new dress which she sees for sale. She wants money, she wants things, and ultimately this is a morality tale about whether she can get beyond these delusions. Elmaleh was an excellent choice for the fellow, and he does a superb job in being sensitive and befuddled as he does what a man has gotta do to hang in there somehow. Will she crack? Audrey meanwhile exudes waves of warmth and creates a real individual out of someone who could so easily have been a cardboard cutout character. The screen is awash with her charm, one wants to wade out into that surf, like Elmaleh, knowing that one could easily drown. Will he? Does he? I'm not going to tell. Notch up one more irresistible vehicle for Audrey Tautou as she continues her march through unmissable film after film. But the mystery as to who and what she is deepens, because the more she is exposed to our view, the less we can really see of her, as she is the ultimate chamaeleon, of whom we will always know a diminishing amount as she progressively turns herself into a legend.
Review of Priceless
