Starring Gad Elmaleh and Audrey Tautou. In French with English subtitles. Rated PG. Opens Friday, July 4, at the Park Theatre

Gad Elmaleh seems to be building a career out of playing working-class, nebbishy guys who either land, or appear to land, women who are right out of their league.

In The Valet, he portrayed a parking attendant who is hired by a scumbag capitalist (Daniel Auteuil) to pose as the lover of a supermodel (Alice Taglioni). In Priceless, his character is a hotel waiter, Jean, who briefly hooks up with a Cí´te d’Azur good-time girl, Irene (Audrey Tautou), who is under the misapprehension that he is just the latest in a long line of sugar daddies. When this bubble bursts, Jean, who has now fallen hopelessly in love with Irene, will do anything to make his fantasies become realities, even if this means messing with the law or destroying his financial future. For him, the love of a good woman is, literally, hors de prix (priceless), even if, to others, the object of his affections is just a “prize whore”.

Tunisian-born director Pierre Salvadori and cowriter Benoí®t Graffin know that they’re baking pastry, so they make sure that the tone always remains light and flaky. The Biarritz locations are very well used, the endless vistas of luxurious hotel corridors and boutique interiors lending themselves admirably to the kind of amoral hedonism that such a formula requires (throw in a few slums and the materialist soufflé collapses).

In the final analysis, Priceless goes down as easily as a well-buttered croissant. And for those who have trouble imagining their little “Amelie” as an upscale call girl, remember: it’s all just pretend.