Haute couture adds few new ingredients to a jaded concept ★★☆☆☆

A bored ‘banlieu girl’ (Lyna Khoudri) and a girlfriend steal the bag of a chastened Dior designer (Nathalie Baye), in this quintessentially French, light-hearted drama in which two people from distinctly different backgrounds end up in each other’s lives. Since intouchables a somewhat jaded concept – and Haute couture adds few new ingredients. Thief Jade regrets it, returns the bag with its contents and in the following scene they are having dinner together in a fancy restaurant: maybe Jade feels like an internship at Dior?

Haute couture wants to tell a story about origin and class. Show how environment and chance affect everyone’s life path. But the makers package their film too flashy as a cheerful fairytale, including that one evil Dior colleague who, unlike every other character, continues to believe that nothing good can come from girls like Jade.