I'll be honest and say that up until now, I have never watched a foreign film in my life. I didn't like the idea of having to read the subtitles at the bottom of the screen as well as watching the on-screen action, so therefore I didn't bother. This film caught my attention in a preview on another DVD I had watched, so I decided to take a chance and rent it from the library. If I didn't like it, I hadn't lost anything but as it turned out, the film really did live up to its name!
Jean is being run ragged at his job as a bartender at a very posh hotel in Southern France. But his luck is about to change when he bumps into stunning guest Iréne. She's usually on the arm of a rich older man who buys her anything she wants, and after mistaking Jean for a fellow guest, she falls for him. But a year later upon her return, she discovers Jean is merely the bartender and is furious. Trouble is, Jean has fallen for her in a big way and is determined to get into Iréne's high-up circles. So when Madeleine, a rich older woman, shows an interest in Jean, he decides she is the perfect gateway to live the life he wants with Iréne. But Iréne only wants what she can get - money, not romance, but Jean isn't about the materialistic things, only finding love. Can these two see past their differences and find out what's really important?
When I first read the plotline, I thought it sounded interesting and not like anything I had seen before. I was really intrigued as to how easy it would
be to follow considering it was a French language film with English subtitles but I was so pleasantly surprised by this lovely little gem of a film. My other concern was that I had only heard of the film's leading lady, Audrey Tautou, and none of the other cast members, but this quickly proved to be no issue whatsoever because they were just brilliant. It's authentic settings, fantastic soundtrack and even better cast all put together to create a superb movie for everyone who loves a real romance to enjoy.
I have to start this by saying how fantastic I think Audrey Tautou was in this film. I haven't seen her in much before so didn't have many expectations. However, she absolutely sizzled on screen and played the sex-siren with ease and a superb screen presence. She pulls off the gorgeous designer outfits far too easily for my liking lol, she looks amazing and pulls her part off brilliantly. At first sight, you expect her character to be quite shallow, but Tautou manages to make Iréne more than that, showing a vunerability at times and a slight regret for her "career". The film does show the seedy side of her chosen lifestyle, how much she relies on these men for everything and how it can go wrong when they dump her, and would perhaps serve as a warning to any young women who want this sort of lifestyle. I went from rather disliking her at the beginning to sympathising and wanting her to make the right decision by her heart at the end, and not her bank account!
However, what really makes this stand out is her chemistry with co-star Gad Elmaleh. Granted, he isn't the best looking man in the world, but he more than makes up for that with his immense talent. He pulls off the bumbling Jean perfectly, contrasting with Tautou's slick and sublime Iréne. You can see the attraction simmering between the pair, but they leave this smouldering between them leaving the audience wondering, and they do this so well! The change of circumstances for the characters allow the actors to step outside their usual boundaries for a few minutes, and we see a far more adept Tautou and comical Elmaleh and this was really refreshing. Tautou really opened up as the film went on, and I liked her more and more despite her seedy job, and Elmaleh acts with his heart and soul, pulling off a range of emotion with apparent ease, relaxing more towards the end and really letting go, he was brilliant.
As these two are the main actors, they really dominate most of the action. Marie-Christine Adam is good as Jean's older woman Madeleine, and Vernon Dobtchess and Jacques Spiesser are good as Iréne's sugar daddies. Much of it is filmed on the Southern French coast, full of money, sunshine and beautiful people, and of course the wonderful hotels where the pair carry out their deceptions. The gorgeous locations merely add to the luxurious feel of this film, and allow the actors to shine in their roles. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack of this film. It had a real authentic French feel to it with its classical pieces which perfectly complemented the action on-screen, and updating to modern music for the party scenes, which sat so well in such a classic feeling movie. It creates such a rich and brilliant atmosphere, and it just makes watching the film even more enjoyable.
I really can't emphasise how much I adored this movie. I didn't expect too much from it, mainly because I wasn't keen on the idea of it being French language but that really did add so much to it in my opinion. The gorgeous settings create an air of sumptuousness about it, and Tautou's gorgeous outfits, romance in the air and captivating storyline all work together to create a thoroughly enjoyable love story. Okay, its not the usual love story taking its time to get to where its viewers will want it to be, but the funny twists and turns along the way keep you watching and guessing. Despite its perhaps outer-shallowness, there are deeper meanings throughout the film which adds another element to it, and to me its make it far more of a beautiful story as things which seem like throwaway actions become far more than that as it goes on. I'd highly recommend this if you love a really good funny love story, and of course foreign films! Just brilliant, thanks to both a brilliant story and its delightfully charming cast.
Director: Pierre Salvadori Writers: Pierre Salvadori and Benoit Graffin. Certificate: 12 Running Time: 104 minutes.
Main Cast: Audrey Tautou ... Irène Gad Elmaleh ... Jean Marie-Christine Adam ... Madeleine Vernon Dobtcheff ... Jacques Jacques Spiesser ... Gilles
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