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From Breakfast at Tiffany’s to Priceless, the movie you must watch

If you enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffany’s, you will absolutely love it’s French remake, Priceless.

By Natasha NorfordPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
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If This Then That: From Breakfast at Tiffany’s to Priceless

By Natasha Norford

When Paul Varjack asks Holly Golightly to borrow her apartment’s phone one morning in New York, and she obligingly fishes it out from a suitcase by the wall- a stage is set, a romance begun- and a story of time-proved perfection unravels sumptuously forth, in glorious cinematic sequence.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the story that it is, emerges before us in all it’s tender, fascinating, startlingly insightful way. Glamorous, peppery and utterly charming... not without it’s hitches- at times painfully revelatory, at others wildly escapist. Like it or leave it, the universal captivation of audiences- agog as we have been over the years, has never failed to endure. It’s the love story of timeless appeal, seamlessly navigating generations and conquering hearts since it’s adaptation to screen in the 1960’s. Culturally seminal- who hasn’t seen their millionth poster or coaster of that waifish silhouette shimmying down Fifth Avenue, coffee, croissant, little black dress, major glasses, pearls at the neck? It’s household. It’s iconic.

From endlessly quotable scenes (“quel night!”), to elegant accoutrements, from upper east side streets to downtown party stores- it’s all dapper gentlemen callers and sophisticated famme fatale’s, boozy bars and brilliant updo’s. It’s Givency at 5 am, it’s midnight trysts and trips to Tiffany’s. It’s Alabaman supermodels and mafia scandals and super rats. It’s lost keys and yellow cabs, Burberry coats, ballet shoes in the fridge, a cat without a name.

Following the plot of our two, these unwittingly destined characters who now live in the same building of Manhattan’s stylish upper east side, the film features famed faces and café society swanning in and out of Apartment 169, the curiously furnished and perfectly positioned apartment of it’s bizarre and bewitching hostess, lady en résidence Ms. Holly Golightly herself. Socialite and sophisticate, sparkling for the screen and, indeed, for any who may have a spare $50 for the powder room, she’s a high-end call girl, far flung from her rustic roots and making her bread and butter from trips to Sing Sing and a magnetic allure.

Eccentric, expressive, sweetly naïve- a maddening bundle of innocence, irreverence and coquettish high spirits- she captivates her new neighbour, novelist Paul Varjack, a thinly veiled escort to his stylish older patroness. Paul has picked up neither pen, nor typewriter reel, in years. But Holly finds herself equally drawn to his golden looks and easy manners- and amidst their social rendezvous and capitulations, conquests (Golightly) and concerns (Varjack), the two elicit an honesty and truth from each other no one else can. They’re shimmying up and down fire-escapes, they’re sauntering through city streets, engraving plastic rings, and hailing taxi’s, they’re making out in the rain. This captivating chemistry is- it can’t be denied: utterly hypnotic. Whether uptown, downtown, or safely nestled in the diamond-lined arbours of Tiffany’s jewellery store itself, we know the story well. One inevitably falls for the other, where they find, at last, the freedom that real love brings.

Theirs is a romance that lasts on into our current cultural zeitgeist. Come hell or highwater, there is always a night (or a week of nights) made for that familiar title to dance up onto our screens and tickle our hearts, alway a night where- over a bowl of popcorn, a glass of red- an evening with Audrey, Cat and Moon River is strictly in order.

After all, how many of us haven’t been caught in the painful flushes of early love, an identity crisis, or the sudden resolution to learn Spanish- only to abandon it a week later? We adore it for good reason. It’s old world éclat, it’s joy, it’s time-worn edges and mad little moments- it’s ever the movie celebrating hot messes and heartaches, the inconsistencies of human nature, happiness itself and, most of all, a belief in the fight for love.

And Breakfast at Tiffany’s is ours for keeps. It’s all you want after a long hard day, it’s a lazy Sunday afternoon, it’s a hug when things are bad, it’s a rush when they’re not. Archetypal of all that it sums up to our modern imaginations, this iconic celebration of elegance, reality and love is just that: perfectly imperfect.

Yet less known, but equally spellbinding, is it’s daughter film from director Pierre Salvadori of 2006- Priceless, the stunning French romantic comedy on the Riviera coast. Because if you liked Breakfast at Tiffany’s- you will love absolutely it’s chic European remake.

Set in a stylish, south of France seaside town- Priceless is a blend of sparkling soiree’s and sunny walks, palm-lined streets, Chanel boutiques and summer flings. A swirl of black suits and cuban cigars, glamorous, empty hotel bars, spaghetti a la carbonara along the water, midnight calls and moped drives- caviar off crystal saucers, café au lait and diamond drop earrings.

Equally laden with wonderful banter, (“I love Italian food! You don't expect much, so you can never be disappointed,”), couture vestments and catchy theme tunes, it’s a movie that promises, nay warrants, your immediate enjoyment. You’ll be enthralled with it’s gorgeous backdrops (a Bond set in French tale form- jazzy late night dinners, flashing Omega wristwatches and white collar cocktail parties- martinis, no less, and all of them shaken- presumably, not stirred), a sumptuous array of characters and deliciously twisting plot lines. But, no spoilers- Priceless is one movie too good to miss. Certainly, don’t take it from here.

“I’m simply not good at anything,” Irène remarks one evening to a beautiful man in a glamorous hotel concierge lounge. “And that’s why I so like people that are.”

It’s midnight on her birthday, and mistaking her companion for a fellow guest, and not- in fact, for what he is, a waiter, dog walker and concierge faithful, Irène makes a costly wrong move, and we are at once whizzed into the world of their newfound meet cute. Jean is everything reliable and uncomplicated in an employee, simple, unassuming- salt of the earth. Irène by contrast is winsome, bubbly, a charming conversationalist, a wild thing. And this encounter is one of pure chance, but the immediate attraction and equally immediate misunderstanding that ensues envelops both Irène and Jean into a heady, if brief, night of romance and thrills.

Audrey Tataou, as bewitching and effervescent as her predecessor Audrey Hepburn, plays the captivating Irène, slinking about in silken frocks and throwing sweetly sidelong smiles. Just like Holly, Irène is a paid companion- to the wealthiest of France’s upper elite. The millionaires and billionaires. The ageing wonders of the business and banking worlds, worlds of serious money. Of old money. And hot-footing her way through life on the fragile strings of a single suitcase and a wealth of charisma, Irène’s talents lie strictly in seduction. “Charm,” she reasons philosophically, “is more valuable than beauty. You can resist beauty. But you can’t resist charm.”

She admits it openly in that first scene and asserts it repetitively- she is good for nothing, absolutely nothing other than enjoying nice things. Irène’s future instead hangs in all her industrious efforts at securing a partner of means who can offer her the life she desires. Hope is in sight for her, because Jacques, a wealthy older gentleman she resides with has at last proposed. And with her sole aim now secured, a life of leisure is finally in sight for Irène. Years of striving and seeking, styling her hair in bathroom hand dryers and waiting curbside in mini skirts, will all be long behind her. Poolside afternoons, michelin-star restaurants and summer voyages will be hers, permanently.

All this is disrupted the night she and Jean meet, swept away as she is by his simplicity and dark looks. His youthful camaraderie and unperturbed nature appeal to her. Jean in turn can hardly believe his luck- and quickly acts the part, obliging Irène’s drink requests, eager to please and be pleasing, finding himself playing the gentleman if only for a night.

With one two many cocktails in, and an electrical chemistry that zings through script and screen, the pair fall drunkenly into an elevator, whizzing up to the Emperor’s Suite where Jean, as staff of the establishment has access- and Irène, caught in the moment as she is, assumes to be his room of residence. It’s a decided step above her current client and his conditions, tasteful as they are, and Jean is a much younger lover than Jacques. What’s more, Jean is clearly smitten with her. Who, she reasons, could be the wiser at a simple night of pleasure? Surely, a fitting celebration for her recent good luck. And a night of wild romance to mark her birthday, no less, and then to forget. She will put her evening in the past and settle down for good.

But when the two wake late next morning, only to be discovered by the hotel staff, and Irene’s finance Jacques, Jean’s ruse as rich bachelor quickly falls away- as does Irène’s chances at luxury. In a single moment she is once again back on the street- destitute, alone, and starting from scratch.

Thus we are drawn in, and from such an eventful first night, there unwinds a magical story of highs and lows- thwarted love, broken hearts, and final, sublime resolution. As Irène’s rebuilds her social standing and secures a new elderly client, her friend Jean’s life takes an equally surprising turn. A rich older woman engages him as her personal companion, and like Paul Varjack- Jean finds himself in the wakes of a glamorous, but ill suited, life of ease. Confounded and totally at a loss, Jean has no idea how to play his new part of companion, longing instead to porter baggage and serve tea. But when he and Irène meet again, and on such different terms, Irène takes Jean on as student, teaching him her art of charm and glamour. But as she does, a connection much more lasting than their first night of love is built. The two of find each other at a crossroads in love- and in a quandary of choice, to choose from the heart, or to live apart.

Priceless is, as it’s title promises, utterly magical- a wonderfully wound story of humour and wit, magnetic allure, wonderful dialogue and erroneous first meets. You’ll be caught up with it’s subtle nods and little nuances, it’s Sunday wines and pistachio creams, it’s Riviera ‘scapes, enchanting characters- it’s quest for true love, and it’s abandon of pretences. A movie that, should you have had your head turned by Breakfast at Tiffany’s, you will be hook, line and sinker bewitched by- a sublimely wrought romance of truth and fate.

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