The Pink Telephone

A sadly predictable satire about the French small businessman: a naive, middle-aged and paternal managing director (Mondy), subject to takeover by a wily American conglomerate, becomes besotted with Darc, supposedly the PR man's niece but actually a callgirl hired as an inducement for the night. Unfortunately, the film follows the man's lumbering innocence through to its logical conclusion (he decides to give up everything for her), ignoring the more interesting implications of his ruined marriage and striking work force. Even the humour at the expense of business ethics isn't as sharp as it might have been.