By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Francis Veber
Starring: Alice Taglioni | Daniel Auteuil | Gad Elmaleh | Kristin Scott Thomas | Virginie Ledoyen
Original language title: La Doublure
Country: belgium, france, italy
Year: 2007
Running time: 85
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449851/
Bruce says: “After the screening of THE VALET it was announced that Dreamworks had purchased the film for a Hollywood
remake. Adam Sandler is my guess for the title role which is played by Gad Elmaleh. Like Jamel Debbouze (AMELIE, SHE
HATE ME, DAYS OF GLORY, ANGEL-A), Moroccan born Elmaleh is one of several actors of North African descent that have in recent years broken ethnic barriers in French cinema.
“In THE VALET Elmaleh plays François Pignon a woebegone car park attendant at a fancy Tuilleries café. From modest means, he is in love with Émilie (Virginie Ledoyen), a doctor’s daughter who has opened her own small bookstore and is deeply in debt. Émilie loves François but rejects his proposal of marriage. When paparazzi take a photo of billionaire Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil) with his super-model mistress Elena Simonsen (Alice Taglioni) innocent François Pignon happens to be walking by the couple and is pictured next to Elena in all the tabloids. For damage control Levasseur has his lawyer track down Pignon. The lawyer gets Pignon to sign an agreement to let Elena move in with him for a month so that all of Paris will believe it is Pignon with whom Elena is romantically involved. Sure, those Parisiens can be really gullible. Levaseur’s wife Christine (Kristen Scott
Thomas) is not so naïve, however. She decides to have a little fun of her own by taking advantage of the situation. With this information you can pretty much figure out what is going to happen without delving into the details.
“The animated credits get THE VALET off on good footing. Elmaleh is charmingly clueless. It is interesting to see Kristen Scott Thomas tackling French roles using her impeccable French. She also appears in another upcoming French film, TELL NO ONE. The big disappointment is Daniel Auteuil who was so good working together with director Francis Veber in THE CLOSET. Here Auteuil plays his character with unnecessary exaggerated flourish.
“François Pignon would make a good candidate for a ‘To Tell the Truth’ type of show. ‘I played François Pignon in THE CLOSET and my name is Daniel Auteuil’ ‘I played François Pignon in THE DINNER GAME and my name is Jacques Villaret.’ ‘I played François Pignon in CAMDADS and my name is Pierre Richard.’ And of course, ‘I played François Pignon in THE VALET and my
name is Gad Elmaleh.’ None would be imposters since director/writer Francis Veber uses the same name for one character in each of his films.
“The humor of THE VALET is broad and obvious. The bottom line: stories of billionaires and super-models are tiresome. 2.5 cats”