Alcatel of France and Lucent Technologies said today that they had reached agreement on a $13.4 billion merger that would create a French-American maker of telecommunications equipment with revenue of $25 billion, 88,000 employees and phone company customers across the world.

Well, at least the downward spiral for these executives includes a few years in the city of lights, even if:

It is stultifying and dull and leads to a nation that dresses less like Catherine Deneuve in "Belle de Jour" and more like timid, provincial town hall employees.

Have you seen the film? In "The Great Movies", Ebert writes:

The most famous single scene--one those who have seen it refer to again and again--involves something we do not see and do not even understand. A client has a small lacquered box. He opens it and shows its contents to one of the other girls, and then to Severine. We never learn what is in the box. A soft buzzing noise comes from it. The first girl refuses to do whatever the client has in mind. So does Severine, but the movie cuts in an enigmatic way, and a later scene leaves the possibility that something happened.

What's in the box? The literal truth doesn't matter. The symbolic truth, which is all Bunuel cares about, is that it contains something of great importance to the client.

Remember the briefcase in Pulp Fiction?

Read the full text of Ebert's review.

Getting back to the deal, I imagine a significant fraction of the job losses will be on the American side. Lucent's executives may want to refer to Four Ways to Fire a Frenchman. And watch out for the protestors.

This I didn't know:

The French love three-letter abbreviations.

You'll have to click through for the explanation.

Alcatel and Lucent Agree to Merge in $13.4 Billion Deal