After a thick concentration of French cinema – Tell No One, La Vie En Rose and Écoute Le Temps – comes a welcome dilution of Gallic entertainment, settling happily back into the slot of farcical fun.
And who better to provide it than the quintessentially delicate Audrey Tautou? But gone is the gamine charm and allure of Amélie; the dirty pretty thing in this jolly rom-com is a little salope who needs a good slap.
Irène works the Riviera circuit in competition with a predatory pack of wannabe WAGS who, with a disciplined flash of décolletage, hit gold more often than a 49-er, knowing that if they play their cards right they may just unearth a few fourth-finger diamonds. Irène lusts after labels like a fat kid in a sweet shop – although there’s nothing fat about Tautou in this film. It’s hard not to become fixated on her taut, brown stomach and sparrow legs sliding silkily in and out of various costumes. Oh-la-la.
While sashaying her way around town, Irène meets Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a barman in one of the exclusive hotels she haunts. There is clearly no such thing as dignified labour in the eyes of this classy tart, so Jean tells her he’s a guest, and thus his double life begins. When he sees the bonuses of Irène’s lifestyle, Jean finds himself a rich old lady, and he and Irène go tête-à-tête to see who can come away with the flashiest haul.
Double-crossing, buffoonery and hiding behind corners is embraced to the full in a film that lends itself brilliantly to this firmly tongue-in-cheek genre. Had Peter Sellers passed them while dangling off a balcony, it would only have presaged Jerry Lewis’ late arrival.
Tautou and Elmaleh work convincingly with a chemistry tuned to the perfect wavelength, and though the film leaves us with a scarcely credible ending, it’s one that still feels right.
