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Priceless
Samuel Goldwyn Films

Priceless reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 72 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.8 out of 10
based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sexual content including nudity

Starring Gad Elmaleh, Audrey Tautou, Marie-Christine Adam, Vernon Dobtcheff, Jacques Spiesser, and Annelise Hesme

Jean, a shy young bartender, is mistaken for a millionaire by a beautiful, scheming opportunist named Irene. When Irene discovers his true identity, she abandons him, only to find that love-struck Jean has no intention of letting her get away. Jean's comical attempts to gain her affections gradually evolve into setting himself up as a gigolo at a luxury hotel, until Irene finally starts to warm to her persistent, persuasive suitor. Against the wildly atmospheric backdrop of the south of France, Pierre Salvadori directs this sexy and thoroughly charming romantic comedy, which is a fresh reimagining of the cinema classic Breakfast at Tiffany's. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Benoit Graffin
Piere Salvadori
 
DIRECTED BY: Pierre Salvadori  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 18, 2008 
Theatrical: March 28, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 104 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: France 
LANGUAGE(S): French 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88
TV Guide Ken Fox
The lovely Audrey Tautou and sad-eyed Gad Elmaleh are perfectly cast as a gold digger and the poor sap who loves her, but the real star of Pierre Salvadori's larky, Lubitsch-esque farce is France's impossibly chic Cote d'Azure.
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83
The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Unlike Salvadori's previous comedy, 2003's "Après Vous," Priceless is less preposterous, and more grounded in character.
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83
Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
It's a fun and attractive ride.
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80
Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman
Calls to mind Lubitsch's "Trouble in Paradise" and beguiles all the way from the parade of umbrellas decorating the opening titles to the closing credits.
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80
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing, or so the saying goes, but the unadulterated joy Irène takes in throwing open the closet door to show Jean how this gold digging is done is positively infectious.
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80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Tautou is a delight, as always, using her bubbly personality to comic advantage. And Elmaleh makes for a sort of poor man's Buster Keaton, perpetually stressed but refusing to surrender, no matter how much damage he sustains to himself or his wallet.
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78
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Priceless is a supremely satisfying confection – a French romantic comedy of the sort that ends with you standing outside the theatre with a dopey grin on your face.
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75
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Tautou's kind of talent: priceless.
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75
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The comedy, which verges on farce from time to time, also has the smilingly cynical approach to romance that we identify with the French.
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75
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The fetching comedy Priceless”(“Hors de Prix”) weighs about as much as its star, Audrey Tautou, but like Tautou’s pleasingly craven heroine it knows exactly what it’s doing.
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75
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Stop laughing long enough, and you'll see that it's a picture about compromised lives and love for sale. But no one who watches Priceless will stop laughing for that long.
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75
New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
Dirty, kinda-rotten scoundrels Elmaleh and Tautou make an engaging pair.
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75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Salvadori's homage is a bittersweet, funny, sporadically charming and consistently entertaining love story between two "kept" people.
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70
Variety Lisa Nesselson
Co-scripter/helmer Pierre Salvadori serves up an enjoyable riff on genuine romance versus the pay-as-you-go variety, in crowd-pleasing, exportable picture.
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70
Village Voice Vadim Rizov
Priceless begins as standard, unconvincing, assembly-line French farce and ends as a cop-out, feel-good rom-com. In between, it develops into something considerably more interesting.
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70
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The outcome is never much in doubt, but Salvadori artfully choreographs the endless table turning, and the Moroccan-born Elmaleh capitalizes on his striking resemblance to Buster Keaton with a similarly comic composure.
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63
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Priceless is a bauble - an art-house diamond made of paste that somehow still gives you good glimmer for the money.
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60
Empire Rosamund Witcher
A farcical romp but, being French, it's hugely glamorous and dripping with style.
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60
The New York Times Stephen Holden
The movie is an amusing ball of fluff that refuses to judge its characters’ amoral high jinks. Winking at the vanity of wealthy voluptuaries and hustlers playing games of tainted love, it heaves a sigh and says welcome to the human comedy.
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50
New York Post V.A. Musetto
Priceless provides lightweight, predictable entertainment that will make you yearn for the Tatou of yesteryear.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

S M gave it a10:
Absolutely worth to watch. Actings are excellent. Fantastic movie.

Paul S. gave it a1:
If you enjoy movies about unlikeable frenchies forming amoral relationships and doing boring, unfunny things - this is your film. Alternately, if you found Tatou simply too sweet in Amelie, watch this immediately afterwards as an antidote.

Chad S. gave it a9:
The gold digger forgets the rules of the game. Love may be priceless, but the price you pay for love is your life. Nevertheless, the gold digger relents, the gold digger runs, to undo the damage she abetted when she taught a dopey bartender the ways of a kept man. Trouble is, her pupil Jean(Gad Elmaleh) becomes so practiced, he's practically a lothario when she bangs on the door of his hotel room. Jean develops a taste for the good life at the same time that the good life loses its flavor for Irene(Audrey Tautou). That's why she runs. Irene needs to stop Jean before he loses his scruples. Tone, obviously, is everything for a film like "Hors de prix", in which its two leads behave badly. It's a delicate matter when Jean dumps his benefactor. He's not the same man we were rooting for in the middle of the movie, when the lowly bartender was wooing Irene, by allowing himself to be wooed by money. Their courtship is based on being co-conspirators. Now they have something in common. Now Irene starts to respect Jean. "Hors de prix" tries to pretend otherwise, but the finished product resembles a cad. Madeleine(Marie-Christine Adam) deserved better, even Agnes(Annelise Hesme), who like Irene, would serve herself on a silver platter to the highest bidder. By the end of "Hors de prix", the tables have turned. Arguably, Irene now loves Jean more than Jean loves Irene. But that's the French for you; a wicked lot, when it comes to love. American romantic comedies are never this complicated, never this amoral, or hillarious.

Jon Boy gave it a6:
Ooooh, a French film. With Audrey Tatou in it. In French. With more than a wiff of Audrey Hepburn about it? You can almost hear a collective critical underwear moistening sigh of delight before the opening credits have finished. However, like the setting in real life, its all style over substance. I found Tatou's character thoroughly dislikable, despite the doe eyed actress' charms being turned up to near face-melting. Her single minded, self centered materialism combined with a cold hearted attempt to ruin her besotted chap left me cold and rather hoping that Elmaleh's well played nervous barman would hook up with the other woman instead. Still, it was diverting enough, and had a bit of wry humour thrown in to draw a few laughs. As a critic above has noted, its always the stunning locations that steal the show.

n hom gave it a6:
Cute date movie. Although there is humor, film as an underbelly of reality to it of loneliness, aging, and longing. Shots of Biarritz is as beautiful as ever. Makes you appreciate the Euros even more.

James P. gave it a7:
Priceless certainly won't change your life, it's not even at all original, but the script is sharp and the leads are engaging. Tatou even manages to imbue the otherwise reprehensible Irene with sufficient vulnerability to make us cheer her most outrageous scams.

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