Friday, March 28, 2008

hors de prix (priceless)


"hors de prix" opened today and i drug my friend gloria with me to see it.
Hors de Prix (Priceless) stars audrey tatou ("amelie," l'auberge espagnole," "dirty pretty things")as a woman who exists and subsists on the kindness of rich old men but only for a short time: before she gets bored, before he dies, before she realizes that there is another bigger score afoot. tatou plays irene (she is painfully thin in a play i think to replicate the mesmerizing, luminous audrey hepburn of "breakfast at tiffany's") and to add some friction to the mix, director pierre salvadori manipulates a meeting between irene and jean ( gad elmaleh) a poor guy who irene mistakes for her next victim but who meets a rich woman who absurdly wants jean to be her paid escort. Irene takes on the job of transforming jean into a proper french gigolo.
what is refreshing about this film is that director salvadori and his writer are not conflcted in the least about irene and what she does: there is no judgement about these kinds of things in french films. irene's actions are deliberate and goal oriented. irene is a prostitute (a high class one, yes but a prostitute nonetheless), a gold digger, a woman who lives off the kindness of old men who crave her company and her affection.
gold digging as an elevated, something to be strived for activity/way of life: the interplay between jean and irene is witty, fun and thoughtful as irene teaches jean the ropes. the idea that we americans are going to re-make this film sends shudders up my spine. quelle dommage!
bulletin: very handsome man (mid 30's) asked me today outside one of the downtown santa barbara starbucks: are you a rent boy? (actually americans don't use that term (he actually sounded like a south african)so what he really said was...how much?)and because he was so hot i almost said yes, i cost 1000 dollars a session...but i didn't...i just smiled. if you're reading this: meet me after my morning run up garden street up to the mission about 9 am tomorrow, ok? what occurs to me is: what is there about me that prompted him to ask this? i was drenched with sweat, bare chested, wearing perfectly covered up shorts, socks, running shoes (in other words just like 1000's of other so/cal dudes)...waiting in line for a soy capp...what would make him ask me that? he was in business drag: white shirt, tie, beautiful wool gaberdine slacks, nice leather lace ups....UPDATE: YOU KNOW WHAT? I BET THE SOUTH AFRICAN DUDE WAS JUST TRYING TO GET TO MEET ME THOUGH HIS APPROACH WAS KIND OF UNORTHODOX...SO THIS IS PROBABLY A CASE OF MY TAKING MYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY WHICH I THINK IS A NOT ALWAYS GOOD SIDELIGHT TO MY STUDIES...SO SOUTH AFRICA DUDE: IF YOU READ THIS YOU KNOW WHERE I RUN ALMOST EVERY AM...
friday music included: seal's "system," aretha's "sparkle," minus the bear, jill scott, stevie wonder, mary j, ascension (don't ever wonder) maxwell...
the weather has been great here: mid 70's, intense sun, shorts and bare chested weather......

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Watch out for rich men in their mid-30s! They might turn you into an Irene. :-)

tyler said...

needless to say i guess: he didn't show up this am...ha!
believe me i have thought about the rent boy thing...a lot.
i hope that you aehaving a groovy weekend....
peace,
tyler

Tim in the South said...

Hey T-Bone,

Some guys, like me, for instance, find the rent boy scenario very exciting. I've done exactly the same thing with guys and the rush that you feel is amazing. And if the boy says yes, all the better. I'm sure there's a whole psych text book written about guys like me, but I don't much care. We're all pathological. The difference is, I know it!

tyler said...

timmy:
yes, and believe me, because of my studies...i know myself probably too well.
i still wonder what there was about me that made this south african dude think that i was a cock for hire...hmmm.
or maybe it was merely his way of saying hello.
the fact is i would have done him free..no for the price of a meal at downey's on state street.
peace,
t.

Jérem' said...

In addition of everything, he loves french cinema?????? My God, what a man! lol! Really, you start to please me!
Peace