The great thing about French films such as Amelie was that although they portrayed a stereotypical version of the French, they did so with charm and wit. Priceless however lacks that charm with no real convincing chemistry between the two main leads and the wit was missing due to a pretty mediocre script.

Irene (Audrey Tantou, The Da Vinci Code) is a gold-digger intent on securing her future on her back. However, she barks up the wrong tree with Jean (Gad Elmaleh, The Valet) who she accidentally mistakes for being rich when in fact he is just a bartender. Fleeing to the South of France, she is followed there by the besotted bartender who ends up completely bankrupt. To survive he becomes the male version of her and the trophy boy to a rich widow. Irene seems to form an attachment based on professional camaraderie with the lad only for that to develop into true love.

To give credit where it is due, there are some individual moments of enjoyment in this film. Once in a while the script comes up with a few witty gags and Vernon Dobtcheff was excellent in the cynical and sardonic role of one of Irene’s old suitors, though it is a pity we did not get to see more of him. Tantou however is a disappointment—her attempts at including some of the charm and panache of her role in Amelie in this outing is complacent and jars after awhile and there is not much genuine chemistry between her and her co-star. Elmaleh also seems somewhat miscast in a role of a shy but attractive bartender, and his transformation into a lethario does not convince. Furthermore the script itself was pretty basic and the gags and one-liners were entirely predictable.

Although the film solicits a few genuine laughs, it did not quite have that extra ingredient so necessary in pulling off a film of this kind. A film that tries so blatantly to mine the image of France as the nation of love, needs to have its own innate charm and chemistry to pull it off. Priceless does not.— Daniel Tan

You’ll dig Priceless if you dig: Audrey Tautou. Nothing else.