Set in Paris, it tells the story of an embittered old man who encourages a vain young protégé to seduce an apparently innocent girl as raw material for a novel.

Antoine, an egocentric would-be writer, is abruptly left by his latest girlfriend Solange for another man.

After putting an ad in the local bakery for a typist, in his favourite café he interviews the demure Catherine, who he finds unattractive.

Back in bed with Catherine, she tells him about an affair with her previous employer's husband and how she used to earn extra money in a brothel catering for special tastes.

[1] In the 18th century, women were wearing little patches, made of a piece of taffeta, to set off the paleness of their skin.

Producer Alain Rocca founded his company, Les Productions Lazennec, as a workshop for young film-school graduates.

The Los Angeles Times said: "Life is not a game, but "La Discrete" is: exquisite, humorous, touching, knowing, beautifully played.

"[4] TV Guide called it "richly ironic, erotic, ephemeral, intellectually provocative and downright earthy," and added that it is "one of those deceptively small films that rocks the soul with its almost offhanded insights into eternal human truths.

"[7] Time Out said it was a "very Rohmer-esque film", and commented that "the interest lies not so much in the predictable intrigue - it almost reads like a commonplace seduction comedy - as in the treatment of a particularly unpalatable strain of French amorous discourse.