Plot

The sprightly young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter helps him over his writer's block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots.

Basing himself in Paris for the purpose, American hack writer Richard Benson, with advance in hand, has been hired by movie producer Alexander Meyerheim to write the screenplay for his latest movie, Benson selling him only on the title, The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower. Meyerheim, who knows about his drinking problem, has been assured by Benson that he is on the wagon. Benson hires Gabrielle Simpson through a secretarial service to be his typist. At the time she arrives for the job, Gabrielle learns that Benson has squandered away almost twenty weeks, with several drinks passing his lips over the course, without having written a word. With nary a story idea, Benson has only two days, on Bastille Day, until Meyerheim will be arriving from Cannes expecting a final product in Benson having continually implied he is near completion. Upon learning that Gabrielle originally came to Paris to experience life, Benson comes up with a brainchild to imagine the movie being a day, Bastille Day, in the life of someone like Gabrielle. As Benson and Gabrielle work through the screenplay, an espionage caper, they imagine themselves in the lead roles of "Rick" and "Gaby", they subconsciously and sometimes consciously steering the story in the direction of what they hope will happen between "Richard Benson" and "Gabrielle Simpson", both to the screenplay's benefit and detriment.—Huggo

Having squandered 19 whole weeks living it up in Saint-Tropez and Monte Carlo, hot-blooded American screenwriter Richard Benson suddenly realises the party is over. With only two days left to meet the deadline for Paramount Pictures' latest production, the intellectual playboy turns to lively secretary Gabrielle to speed things up. But this is easier said than done. As the uninspired author and his temporary assistant hole up for an entire weekend in a chic Parisian flat to spin a yarn from scratch, the line between creative writing and reality blurs. And the question remains: Will they still love Paris when it sizzles?—Nick Riganas

Hollywood producer Alexander Meyerheimer has hired drunken writer Richard Benson to write his latest movie. Benson has been holed up in a Paris apartment supposedly working on the script for months, but instead has spent the time living it up. Benson now has just two days to the deadline and thus hires a temporary secretary, Gabrielle Simpson, to help him complete it in time.—Col Needham <col@imdb.com>

In Paris, the successful alcoholic forty-two years old screenplay writer Richard Benson has three days to write a script to his producer that has paid in advance. The typist Gabrielle Simpson arrives to his hotel to type the screenplay. Along the three days, she helps him to develop the story and they fall in love for each other.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil