Santa Claus is a Stinker (French: Le père Noël est une ordure, lit.

[3] Pierre, a stuffy and self-righteous volunteer at a telephone helpline for depressed people, and his well-meaning but naïve co-worker Thérèse, are stuck with the Christmas Eve shift in the Paris office, much to their displeasure.

The building's lift is malfunctioning, and they receive visits from unwanted callers: Katia, a depressed transvestite who tries to hit on Pierre; M. Preskovitch who lives in the same building and always turns up unexpectedly to offer them various unappetizing pastries; and Josette, a heavily pregnant woman on the run from her violent fiancé Félix who is trying to get her to come back home to cook the Christmas Eve dinner.

[4][5] The painting depicting Thérèse with a pig used in the film is different from the one used for theatre version of Le père Noël est une ordure.

[6][7] Today the painting that was used to shoot the film is in the hands of its author, Bernard de Desnoyers, who has kept the work.