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The Valet

The Valet

Comedy · 2006

Caught by tabloid paparazzi with his mistress Elena, a famous and beautiful fashion model, billionaire Pierre Levasseur tries to avoid a divorce by inventing a preposterous lie. He uses the presence of a passerby in the photo to claim to his wife that it's not him Elena is seeing but the other man, one François Pignon. Pignon is a modest little man who works as a parking valet. To make the story convincing, Elena has to move in with Pignon.

Movie details

The Valet

2006 Comedy 1h 25m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.0 / 10

Community rating

Caught by tabloid paparazzi with his mistress Elena, a famous and beautiful fashion model, billionaire Pierre Levasseur tries to avoid a divorce by inventing a preposterous lie. He uses the presence of a passerby in the photo to claim to his wife that it's not him Elena is seeing but the other man, one François Pignon. Pignon is a modest little man who works as a parking valet. To make the story convincing, Elena has to move in with Pignon.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Valet?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Francis Veber

Written by

Francis Veber · Declan May

Gad Elmaleh

Gad Elmaleh

François Pignon

Alice Taglioni

Alice Taglioni

Éléna Simonsen

Daniel Auteuil

Daniel Auteuil

Pierre Levasseur

Kristin Scott Thomas

Kristin Scott Thomas

Christine Levasseur

Richard Berry

Richard Berry

Maître Foix

Virginie Ledoyen

Virginie Ledoyen

Emilie

Dany Boon

Dany Boon

Richard

Court is in session

Put The Valet on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.