A Very Special Favor

Boullard wants Paul to seduce Lauren because he believes his daughter has become too emotionally guarded and career-focused after years of his absence. Since his American wife left him 25 years earlier due to his infidelity, Boullard never returned to his daughter. He sees Paul, a charming, experienced womanizer, as the perfect tool to "open up" Lauren's heart and help her experience passion beyond her professional life.

Earlier, Boullard observes that Lauren is a successful psychologist who has built her life around career rather than personal relationships.

Paul initially resists the plan, recognizing it could hurt Lauren and suspecting Boullard's motive is wounded pride rather than genuine concern. However, he ultimately agrees because he's curious about his own appeal and intrigued by the challenge of breaking through Lauren's emotional walls. He also accepts as a favor to settle their courtroom rivalry in a "uniquely French" way.

On the plane, Boullard presses Paul to return a favor he claims will settle the score.

After Lauren drinks too much champagne at dinner, Paul carries her back to her hotel. To test her feelings and create a dramatic moment, he stages a scene that makes it appear they have slept together, even though they didn't. This fabricated intimacy is meant to provoke a reaction from Lauren and reveal the truth behind their developing feelings.

During dinner, Lauren challenges Paul to enjoy a night without flirting, setting up the test of boundaries.

Boullard reveals his identity to Lauren the morning after the staged hotel scene. Once Lauren learns the truth about the fabricated affair, Boullard steps forward and reveals he is her father, a man she hasn't seen in over 25 years. This shocking revelation shifts the dynamic entirely, as Lauren discovers her father has been orchestrating events from behind the scenes.

Boullard had been watching Lauren from a distance in New York, keeping his identity hidden while planning to guide her life.

After learning about the scheme, Lauren teams up with her newly revealed father to outmaneuver Paul. She invents a fictional Spanish lover to make Paul jealous and rattle his ego. By telling Paul about this supposed rival, she flips the power dynamic and forces Paul to confront his own feelings for her, resulting in a jealous spiral that accelerates their romance.

The moment Boullard reveals himself, they decide to work together against Paul.

When Lauren tells Paul about her fictional Spanish lover, Paul experiences genuine jealousy for the first time, something he's never felt with his usual conquests. This jealousy triggers a downward spiral where he goes on a drinking binge, enlisting help from Mickey the switchboard operator and Harry the taxi driver. The drinking represents his loss of control and the realization that he's developed real feelings for Lauren.

Paul's earlier confidence in his charm made him believe he could handle any situation without emotional attachment.

The jealousy tactic works precisely because both characters were using manipulation instead of honesty. When Paul becomes genuinely jealous, it reveals his true feelings to both himself and Lauren. Similarly, Lauren's invention of the Spanish lover forces her to confront how much Paul means to her. Their mutual jealousy breaks through the walls of deception, leading them to acknowledge genuine feelings for each other.

The entire scheme was designed to test boundaries and reveal hidden emotions.

Lauren's emotional guardedness stems directly from her father's absence. After her mother left Boullard when Lauren was young, she grew up without a father figure. This abandonment shaped her into a controlled, career-focused woman who uses professional success as a defense mechanism. Being a psychologist herself suggests she intellectually understands emotions but struggles to apply them to her own life.

Boullard notes that his absence shaped Lauren into the independent but emotionally guarded woman she became.

Paul and Boullard first meet in a Paris courtroom where Paul, a wealthy American oilman, wins a high-stakes legal case against Boullard by using his charm on the female judge. This victory humiliates Boullard, who views it as an attack on French pride. The rivalry sets up their later encounter on the plane to New York, where Boullard seeks revenge by involving Paul in his personal scheme.

The courtroom scene establishes Paul's charm as his primary weapon and Boullard's wounded pride as his motivating force.

Arnold Plum is Lauren's fiancé at the beginning of the film, a kind but passive man who exists largely to support Lauren's ambitions. He represents the safe, controlled relationship Lauren chose: someone who poses no threat to her emotional equilibrium. Paul serves as a contrast to Arnold, representing the unpredictable passion that Lauren ultimately craves but fears.

When Boullard observes Lauren in New York, he sees she's engaged to a man who doesn't challenge her.

The film ends with Paul and Lauren overcoming the ruses and misdirections to acknowledge their genuine feelings for each other. They marry and eventually become parents to several children, symbolizing their reconciliation of passion, intellect, and affection. The ending represents a complete transformation for both characters, from emotionally guarded to fully open, from manipulation to authentic connection.

The jealousy scheme works more effectively than either Boullard or Paul anticipated, bringing them closer.