Starring: Déborah Franҫois, Romain Duris, Shaun Benson
Moving from her small hometown to the city, Rose Pamphyle
(Franҫois) applies for a job as a secretary. She’s hopelessly inept at almost
all of the tasks put in front of her, except for one. She’s is remarkably
gifted as a typist; typing with both speed and accuracy. Her employer, Louis
Échard (Duris) sees potential in her talent and enters her into competitions
for speed-typing, eventually making her a celebrity.
The obvious comparative point with Populaire is Pygmalion (and
its slightly better known musical adaptation, My Fair Lady, notably made for
the screen in 1964). A pompous, but ultimately lovable, well-to-do man, takes
on a cute but ditzy young woman on a journey of changes (in both Populaire and
Pygmalion, these journeys are spurred on by a bet made with the male
protagonist’s friend) and end up starting a romance. As you might imagine from
the premise, Populaire is frothy and fluffy but also rather self-aware. The
film tips its hat a great deal to 1950s Hollywood romantic comedies. Romain
Duris brings to mind Cary Grant and Déborah Franҫois, at times, looks
(fittingly) like a blonde Audrey Hepburn; two people who seem unrealistically
glamorous and attractive for such an officious setting, but it fits the
whimsical tone. The film’s visual style and techniques also keep a strong
Gallic sensibility and there are even strange parallels with other films (how
many films can there be out there where a typing sequence is edited and shot
like a fight scene from Raging Bull (1980)?). Whilst some of these stylistic
shifts work (a rather frank and explicit sex scene is worked in without too
much incongruity) others don’t and the film is often very predictable. You’ll
probably guess roughly how the film ends just as it starts. However, the film
knows the audience’s familiarity with such pretentions and however else it
might fail or succeed, it’s unquestionably very charming.
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