Fiche Story

Under an archaic law, any guest registering at a French hotel is required to fill out and sign a form, called la fiche, establishing his identity, address, occupation and, if a foreigner, his passport number. Fichisme is not only a chore for hoteliers, who must turn in the forms to the commissariat. For loving--if uncertified--couples, it can also be a mortifying ordeal, involving all the devices and evasions of a Feydeau comedy.

Finally, France's new Interior Minister Michel Poniatowski admitted last week what everyone has known all along: the police have no time to read the millions of fiches filed each month. And so, amid cheers and kisses, the practice is about to be abolished.

For the time being, however, there seems little likelihood of a mass invasion of France by amorous Americans. They will still have to surrender their passports at the hotel desk, meaning that, in practice, unwed couples may be reluctant to admit their liaison and have to sleep for the price of two--demurely in separate rooms, often on separate floors, connected by leering elevator operators. Nonetheless, as it always has, l'amour will doubtless find a way.

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