Quatre étoiles (2006) - film review

When she inherits fifty thousand euros, Franssou, a young English teacher, is uncertain what to do with her newfound wealth.  Ignoring the advice of her terminally dull boyfriend, who advises her to put the money in the bank, she runs off and checks into an exclusive hotel in Cannes, to live the high life for a month or two.   Here, she runs into Stéphane, a slick conman in a designer suit who pretends to be Elton John’s best friend.   Stéphane is desperately in need of thirty thousand euros to pay off a local gangster and wastes no time trying his charm out on Franssou.  The latter agrees to give him the money providing he repays twice the sum in a few days’ time.  She also insists that she never leaves his side for a minute, which is hard for Stéphane, who prefers his own company.  To get back her money, Franssou agrees to assist Stéphane in a scam to sell a luxury villa to a naive but incredibly wealthy racing driver, René.  Things become complicated when the latter falls in love with Franssou...

If the plot of Quatre étoiles appears vaguely familiar that is probably because it is virtually identical to that of another French films, Hors de prix, released the same year.  Both films owe something to Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (1955), with the Grace Kelly role played by two highly regarded French actresses, Isabelle Carré in the former, Audrey Tautou in the latter.  Director Christian Vincent gives the story of deception, duplicity and devious romance a typically Gallic twist and whilst his film is somewhat lacking in substance, it is engaging and highly entertaining.

In contrast to the fluffy artificiality of Hors de prix, Quatre étoiles is more convincingly scripted and played, benefitting greatly from its three superlative lead performers.  José Garcia is magnificent as the hapless con artist, his portrayal of sympathetic villainy having something of the young Peter Sellers about it – you want to hate him, but you just can’t.  François Cluzet is a perfect casting choice for the role of the seemingly guileless stooge and helps to anchor the story in reality.  For the female lead, Isabelle Carré could hardly have been bettered -  she makes her character believable and yet ambiguous enough to make us wonder at her motives.     

Quatre étoiles is not Christian Vincent’s best film by any stretch but it is an eminently watchable divertissement.  The plot becomes unravelled around about the midpoint and never seems to get back on track, but the performances from the talented leads are crisp, witty and hold our attention right to the film’s implausible ending.  Anyone who enjoyed this film should check out some Vincent’s previous films, particularly La Discrète (1990), which won three Césars, and La Séparation (1994), which features a stunning performance from Isabelle Huppert.

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