Populaire (2012)
Directed by Régis Roinsard

Film Review

The prevailing mania in French cinema for all things kitsch and retro shows no sign of abating, judging by the positive reaction to Régis Roinsard's debut feature Populaire.  A deliriously full-on homage to the American rom-com of the 1950s, with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn visibly reincarnated as a brilliantined Romain Duris and a heavenly Déborah François, the film can best be summarised as a high-speed collision between Rocky and My Fair Lady.  On paper, the plot would appear to be a total non-starter: the delicate Hepburn-like heroine wants to be her own woman and so she allows herself to be hauled through a gruelling training regime (by an implausibly smooth Romain Duris) to become an Olympic-standard touch-typist.  It's hard to imagine how Roinsard was able to find a producer to back the project given its flimsy premise, but someone evidently saw something in it and was willing to stump up the 15 million euros needed to make the film.  It may seem unlikely, but Populaire has everything it needs to live up to its name - a stellar cast, unrivalled production standards, stylish mise-en-scène and an unflagging sense of fun.  And it's all about typing.

The one area where the film cannot easily be faulted is its stunning art design, which provides a meticulous reconstruction of the period in which it is set (the late 1950s).  Cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman (who previously achieved great things on Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist) was evidently influenced by the American films of the period, most notably Hitchcock's Vertigo, and achieves a similarly colour-rich glossy look, which nowadays comes across as kitsch and artificial.  The sets and costumes are just as evocative of the era and add to the film's pleasing fairytale-like artificiality, vaguely reminiscent of the films that Jacques Demy made in the 1960s.  There are scant references to the decade's darker side (such as the costly wars in Indochina and Algeria) and the characters are obvious stereotypes who behave much as we would expect them to.  Populaire may look authentic but the one thing it definitely does not do is to present is an accurate piece of social history.  Rather, it shows us the past as we would prefer to remember it, warm and cosy, a happy retreat from our present turmoil of muddle and misery.

It is regrettable that Roinsard and his screenwriting team were unable (or unwilling) to burrow a little deeper and offer a more insightful commentary on the slow process of female emancipation, which is essentially what the film is (or ought to be) about.  Now that it has been confined to history thanks to the ubiquitous personal computer and other technological gizmos, it is easy to forget that the typewriter was a crucial weapon in the cause of women's lib, allowing women to achieve some measure of independence from (and parity with) men in the latter half of the 20th century.  In terms of its lasting social impact, the typewriter had far greater impact than the atom bomb and contraceptive pill.  The film is right when it makes the apparently fatuous observation that every woman's dream in the 1950s was to become a secretary, but what it then fails to do is to follow through and connect with the far-reaching social changes that would ensue as a result of women migrating from the kitchen sink to the typing pool (a crucial stepping stone to the boardroom).  The heroine Rose thinks she is gaining her freedom by becoming the world's fastest typist, but it is apparent that she is deluding herself.  As generations of women before her, she is still very much in the power of the dominant male, and one wonders if the film is being bitterly ironic or just hopelessly lazy.

Populaire may not be profound or particularly imaginative, but it is nonetheless an enjoyably daft escapist diversion.  (What other film offers so much hot adrenalin-pumping keyboard action?)  What the script lacks in depth and subtlety it makes up for (almost) with its almost surreal set-pieces and humorous dialogue that crackles on the lips of an amiable cast.  Fans of The Artist will doubtless relish Bérénice Bejo's presence in a substantial supporting role, and it's a treat to see stars of yesteryear Miou-Miou and Eddy Mitchell in fine comedic form.  The film's main selling point is the marvellous chemistry between the two leads, Romain Duris and Déborah François, without which this would have been the palest imitation of an old school American  rom-com.  Of course, the real star of the film is none of the above, but a now obsolete lump of metal that was once the enabler and servant of so much intellectual, artistic and commercial activity - the modest typewriter.  If like me you passed your formative years pounding away in creative masochism, blistering your fingers on those cold, stubborn blocks of metal, Populaire will bring back a flood of memories - and an intense longing for the good old days of carbon paper, correction fluid and constantly tangled keys.  Happy days...

Film Synopsis

For a young woman growing up in France in the mid-to-late 1950s, opportunities for leading your own life, free of parental restraint, are few and far between.  Rose Pamphyle is 21, the ideal age to get herself a husband and start rearing a family.  At least, this is what her father, a sullen widower in a small Normandy village, intends for her.  He has made up his mind that his daughter will marry the son of a prosperous garage owner and do what society expects of her - to stay at home and have babies.  Rose has other ideas, however.  A life of dreary domesticity and never-ending maternity has limited appeal to her, so she instead opts to gain her independence by finding herself a well-paid job.  To this end, she goes off in secret to the nearby town of Lisieux to attend an interview for the post of secretary.

Rose's prospective employer is Louis Echard, a good-looking and charming young man in his mid-thirties who runs a small insurance company.  It is not the most successful of interviews, but Louis cannot but be impressed by the speed of Rose's touch-typing.  Her fingers zip across the keyboard as if they are under some kind of demonic influence - it is a dazzling sight to behold!  Realising he has found someone of rare ability, Louis offers Rose the job, but on condition that she agrees to enter a speed typing competition.  Under his patient tutelage, Louis is confident that he can make a champion typist of her.  But as they embark on this singular adventure together, Rose and her new employer cannot help falling for one another...