Director: Pierre Salvadori
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Vernon Dobtcheff, Marie-Christine Adam, Jacques Spiesser, Annelise Hesme
Jean (Ged Elmaleh) is one of those characters in life who are undervalued. Acutely shy and overworked by the swanky hotel where he works on the Côte D'Azur, Jean finds himself walking uncooperative dogs for ungrateful owners, waiting at tables and tending the bar late into the night.
After one patron persuades the exhausted young man to join him in a drink or two and smoke one of his cigars, Jean falls asleep on the sofa. He is woken by Irène (Audrey Tautou) who has come for a drink alone, while her wealthy elderly lover Jacques (Vernon Dobtcheff) snoozes upstairs.
Irène mistakes Jean for a wealthy guest, and he is so smitten by the beautiful young woman who is treating him as a person, that he plays along. His shy awkwardness begins to melt away and when Irène makes clear that she wants to go to his room, he has no hesitation in taking her to the Imperial Suite.
In the morning Jean wakes to discover Irène and Jacques have left the hotel. One year later, they return and Jean quickly switches role. They sleep together again, but when Jacques discovers Irène's absence, he abandons her saying, 'I'll find you back where I found you: in a bar, in a miniskirt, looking nonchalant.'
Irène is not simply a young girl who has been swept off her feet by a rich old man; she is a calculating gold-digger, little more than an enterprising escort. She is quite happy to be the lover of a succession of men like Jacques who, in turn, are more than happy to spend small fortunes on clothes and jewellery for her.
Jean, too, is exposed and is quickly out of a job, but driven by vengeful spite, Irène persuades him to take her to another luxury hotel and spend all his money on her. She knows full well that he will do anything to spend more time with her. Soon his credit limit catches up with him and Irène tosses him aside. He is unable to pay the hotel bill, but is rescued by Madeleine (Marie-Christine Adam), a wealthy older woman. Jean is now the same as Irène.
© Copyright Tony Watkins (2008) www.culturewatch.org
