The Maid 1991

Anthony Wayne, the head of mergers and acquisitions for a NYC bank, is hired by a Parisian bank to take over for someone who has suddenly left. Nicole Chantrelle is frustrated to not be promoted, as her boss C.P. Olivier has head-hunted Wayne rather than consider her.

Anthony is a messy, immature bachelor, who foolishly had a fling with Elisabeth. He travels to Paris, scouting for an attractive prospect and, while waiting to start his new job for a month, overhears Nicole desperately pleading for a replacement at a domestic help agency. He shows up at Nicole’s door, claiming to be a maid named John, and she hires him on the spot. When he sees Marie, his nerves kick in and he tries to back out, but Nicole hurries him inside.

Marie is bratty and difficult at first. Anthony manages to lock him in her bedroom, and when he frees himself he treats her with a firm hand. By the time Nicole returns, the house is clean, Marie has eaten and completed her chores, and she’s in bed. Pleased, Nicole declares that he is hired.

Determined to reveal the ruse ASAP, Anthony hires a crew to clean Nicole’s apartment, then meets with C.P. for lunch. Nicole has her own “business lunch” with Laurent Leclair, who clearly shares an attraction with her.

Very happy with him, one evening Nicole invites Anthony to stay for dinner. Afterwards, as they do the dishes, she explains how Marie’s father had disappeared from her life before Marie was born and asks him about being a maid. He remains tight-lipped. Anthony later takes the recently vacant apartment under Nicole’s without telling her.

At work, C.P. tells Nicole to put in motion a 300 million dollar loan to the Leclair Group, and mentions Wayne will be starting the following week. Back home, she asks Anthony for advice about meeting a work colleague for dinner. He suggests making it less intimate by inviting more colleagues, which leads to an eight-person dinner organized and manned by Anthony at Nicole’s place.

Contracting a catering company to deliver the multi-course meal, Anthony spots C.P. and realizes it is her company that hired him. Disguising himself by slicking back his hair and keeping his face hidden, he manages to stay in character as the host. After all but Laurent exit, Nicole sends him home.

The morning after, during a post-coital breakfast, Laurent reveals that he is married. Nicole confides in Anthony, and they spend time with Marie, share a kiss, and Anthony declares he loves her. Nicole admits she could never date an employee, yet she follows him downstairs to his place and enters, only to fire him and yet confess her feelings.

They spend the night together, waking to his alarm that calls him “Anthony Wayne.” Shocked, Nicole storms out. On his first day back at work, she tells C.P. she will not work with him, and in a meeting with Laurent she suggests they do not grant the loan after all. Yet their collaboration resumes as they review Laurent’s finances, aided by information Anthony’s NYC contacts gleaned about US banks Leclair had caused to fail. Their findings convince C.P. to sever ties with Leclair.

C.P. apologizes to Nicole for doubting her, then informs her that Anthony has turned in his notice. Saddened, she returns home to find Anthony, and they embrace.