Review of The Valet (2006) by Carl M. Z — 03 Mar 2010

"THE VALET" ("Doublure, La," 2006, in French with English subtitles)... B.

A top notch cast rounds out this brioche, this pastiche, of a French cinematic pastry. Gad Elmaleh is well cast as François Pignon, a French slacker whose needs are so minimal that he gets by just fine as a car jockey for the patrons of a wealthy Parisian hotel. He is an honest and a simple soul, just the sort of bloke that a rich industrialist could use as a shield when he is caught in a compromising position.

Daniel Auteuil, one of France's most prolific actors, plays the other lead as Pierre Levasseur, that wealthy French industrialist. Auteuil has appeared in a number of recent French imports including "Caché" and "The Widow of Saint-Pierre." Most of the roles that I have seen him play are those of a tightly wound man who prefers to live in a world that is well-ordered with disorder and chaos kept far away. Needless to say, that well-ordered world collapses into chaos for one reason or another, just as it does in this movie for Levasseur.

The joy of this movie is in seeing Levasseur, an arrogant, rich jerk, get his comeuppance. Auteuil is perfect for articulating the role of a man who is caught with his pants down, to use a figure of speech, and then he flounders into a trap set by others, all the while feeling that he is still in control of the situation. He has devised this trap to draw them into his web of deceit, but he finds out to his chagrin that he is not the spider but rather the fly on the menu.

This high-powered corporate executive has spent his professional life manipulating the lives of his employees, only to find out now that he has to dance to a tune played by others. In short, the manipulator becomes the manipulated. It is all quite delicious as we watch Levasseur blink and twitch with nervous tension with his beady little eyes darting back and forth looking for an escape hatch.

A paparazzi catches him walking arm in arm on a Parisian side street with his much younger mistress. The girl on his arm just happens to be Elena Simonsen (Alice Taglioni), one of France's most famous supermodels. His wife, Christine Levasseur (Kristin Scott Thomas), is not pleased when their picture shows up in the tabloids the next morning. I was surprised to see the English actress, Kristin Scott Thomas, starring in this film. She speaks what appears to be flawless French, and I understand that she is fluent in three languages.

Pierre, grasping at straws, claims that Elena was really walking with the other man, the one with the blurred image in the background of the photo. It is all preposterous, of course, and nobody believes him, least of all his wife, who is much to smart for all this. Nonetheless, he must now go through with this charade, so he hatches a deal with his shady lawyer to dig up the young man and persuade him to act out the role of the lover to this supermodel.

His mistress, Elena, wants him to divorce his wife, something that he has been promising her he will do for some time. In reality, however, Pierre is just a lying snake and he has no such intentions. Besides, he can't divorce his wife since she has a controlling interest in his company, and he has no interest in giving up the perks of his powerful position.

François Pignon makes the perfect foil. He is a loyal son and his parents dote on him. His elderly dad has health problems, and the doctor (Michael Aumont), who still makes house calls, is such a hypochondriac that he usually ends up being the patient lying in the master bed with François' dad ministering to his needs. Fortunately, they are long time friends, so everyone understands the routine.

The families are so close that the parents readily assume that their François will soon marry Emilie (Virginie Ledoven), the lovely daughter of the doctor. The two have been together for years, and François has just purchased a small diamond engagement ring.

He proudly shows the ring to Richard (Dany Boon), his best friend and the guy who shares his flat. Boon is wonderful here as Richard, another slacker car jockey at the same hotel. However, rather than being overjoyed for his best friend, Richard is horrified, for he sees this as a signal that he will have to move out of the apartment in favor of Elena, and he has nowhere else to go.

Richard needn't have worried. Emilie considers François only to be a dear friend. She is not in love with him, and she hardly considers him to be marriage material. François is crushed, and it is at this precise moment that Pierre's lawyer proposes to him that he actually be paid to squire around a beautiful supermodel. 85 minutes and rated PG-13 for sexual content and language.