Review of “The Valet”
The French name of this comedy - La Doublure - translates as ‘the Stand-In’, which is exactly what the central character Francois Pignon (Gad Elmaleh) becomes. Pignon – the eternal fall-guy and loser - works as a valet parking cars at an upmarket Parisian restaurant, but accidentally becomes involved in a high-profile scandal when wealthy business tycoon Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil) is snapped by the paparazzi with his supermodel mistress Elena (Alice Taglioni) with Pignon also in the photo. In order to protect his wealth, and keep the truth from his wife Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas), Levasseur convinces Elena to live with Pignon in his dingy single-bed apartment and pretend to be Pignon’s lover. To complicate matters, Pignon is in the middle of trying to make amends with his girlfriend Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen). Throw in some lawyers, a couple of private detectives, a sleazy phone salesman with his eye on Emelie, a mad doctor, and Pignon’s homeless flatmate Richard, and you have all the elements of a classic French farce, built on misunderstandings, total confusion, and the art of putting the wrong person in the wrong place at the right time.
Rating:
Writer/director Francis Veber is the master of this genre, with more than 25 years writing experience behind him, including La Cage aux Folles which gave him an Oscar nomination back in 1980. More recently he’s directed a string of successful comedies using the everyman character of Francois Pignon, including The Dinner Game and The Closet. The success of these depends upon the inventiveness of the plot and the ability of the cast, and whilst there’s nothing particularly new in the storyline of The Valet, the performances, particularly from Auteil and Richard Berry (who plays Levasseur’s lawyer) make it a thoroughly entertaining film. But it’s the women who ultimately drive the story along, Scott Thomas (with perfect French) and Taglioni keeping their characters cool and elegant while the men dance around trying to get things right, but only making matters worse. Gad Elmach’s version of the Pignon character (played by a different actor in each film) is freshly naïve but with sufficient motivation to make him the likeable foil around which the many plots and sub-plots revolve. Don’t look too deep, and you’re bound to enjoy it.
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