Una Top model nel mio letto
Directed by:
Francis VeberCinematography:
Robert FraisseComposer:
Alexandre DesplatCast:
Gad Elmaleh, Daniel Auteuil, Alice Taglioni, Kristin Scott Thomas, Richard Berry, Virginie Ledoyen, Michel Aumont, Dany Boon, Patrick Mille, Philippe Brigaud (more)Plots(1)
The tale begins when François Pignon, (Gad Elmaleh) a restaurant car service valet at a posh Paris hotel gets caught-up in a billionaire industrialist's sneaky infidelities. Veber's plot quickly turns on the fall guy, when François an innocent passerby - is photographed by a paparazzo leaving the hotel along with Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil), the wealthy tycoon and his beautiful supermodel mistress Elena (Alice Taglioni). In a desperate attempt to avoid an ugly divorce with his wife Christine, (Kristin Scott Thomas) Pierre's scheming lawyer Maitre Foix (Richard Berry) concocts an outrageous plan. By paying the valet a large sum of money to live with Pierre's mistress, the two men hope to mislead the tabloids and most importantly hide the affair from his wife. Meanwhile, the ruthless Pierre must convince the stunning Elena to live with François in his cruddy apartment until the dust settles. All the while, continuing to reassure his wife that the other man in the photo, François, is really Elena's boyfriend. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (3)
I like Francis Veber's polished filmmaking style and this time he didn't disappoint, even though it's definitely not his best film from the perspective of all his works. Those who expect a comedy with a barrage of gags in the style of The Toy with Pierre Richard will be disappointed, as Veber lacks energy and ideas to some extent at his age. However, there is a sense of humor, sparkling dialogues, and a reasonable dose of situational humor in The Valet. Unlike over-sweetened American romantic comedies, Veber manages to maintain a certain level and does not stoop to sycophancy. His story about infidelity is basically a morality tale but portrayed kindly, with understanding and elegance. Perhaps only the finale could have been more inventive...Overall impression: 70%.
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"Isn't it time to find another doctor?" - "No, I'll keep this one. He's doing so badly that I feel better when I look at him." Francis Veber wrote and filmed what he wanted to write and film. An enjoyable conversational comedy, a kind of proof that the good old days of (not only) French fun are not yet over. Of course, it's not as much of a whirlwind as the three year older Shut up!, but on the other hand, it wasn't supposed to be, so what the hell? Gad Elmaleh is good as Pignon (whom Veber refers to as an ordinary man, a good guy who, through no fault of his own, gets into difficult situations and then gets out of them without knowing how), but I was even more pleased with the sympathetic Alice Taglioni. Daniel Auteuil also handled the morbidly unfaithful industrialist with flying colors. And lest I forget, there's a perfect reference to The Dinner Game in the script! It was good. "Elena is a wonderful girl. It takes guts to make out with someone like that." - "Yeah, she's putting her all into it." - "Fuck you!"
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It started as an anecdote about how to talk his way out of being caught cheating on his wife and, unfortunately, it got no further. The surrogate lover joke is drawn out and long-winded. At least thank goodness that the relationship between the mistress and the understudy doesn't end completely predictably. The conclusion carries no message. At least there is the wonderful, confident and pragmatic wife, Kristin Scott Thomas, who I was rooting for from the very beginning.
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