It's "My Fair Lady" meets "Flashdance" meets the sweet, earnest rom-coms of the 1950s. "Populaire" is the feature debut by French filmmaker Régis Roinsard (most famed for Jane Birkin's promotional videos) but the film has the look and feel of a veteran artisan: "Some Like it Hot" director Billy Wilder, to be exact.
Roinsard was inspired to make "Populaire" after watching an old 1950s newsreel about a speed-typing contest. That inspiration comprises 80 percent of the story: Set in Lisieux, France, in the late 1950s, "Populaire" is the tale of a girl who strives to be special, by poising her fingers over a typewriter keyboard and banging out 516 strokes a minute.
Roinsard depicts with loving detail an era that glamorized the office secretary, practically the only job available to girls seeking a career and independence. Rose (Déborah François) is one such girl, desperate to escape life with her grouchy widower dad who runs the village haberdashery and plans to marry her off to the local dentist.