Populaire
Short description
Set in the spring of 1958, Populaire follows Rose Pamphyle, a young woman from a small town in Normandy who is expected to settle into a quiet married life. Instead, she takes a job as a secretary at an insurance agency in Lisieux, where her interview with the charismatic owner, Louis Échard, goes badly. What saves her is an unusual talent: she types at remarkable speed. Louis, a former athlete, sees a chance to turn her into a competitive typist, and the two begin training for speed-typing contests while their relationship shifts between rivalry and romance.
The film is directed by Régis Roinsard, who wrote the screenplay with Daniel Presley and Romain Compingt; this was the first of the three features he has directed, ahead of The Translators and Waiting for Bojangles. Romain Duris and Déborah François lead the cast as Louis and Rose, with Bérénice Bejo, Shaun Benson, Mélanie Bernier and Nicolas Bedos among the supporting players. Alain Attal produced, and the production involved Belgian and French companies.
Released in late 2012, Populaire runs 111 minutes. On IMDb it holds a 6.8 rating from about 13,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.6 from roughly 600 votes. A critics' rating of 6.6 from around 60 reviews places professional response close to the audience scores on both platforms, indicating a generally favorable but not enthusiastic reception.
What's left behind the scenes
- The scene where Deborah François in a red dress enters the hotel room is a tribute to the Vertigo publishing house.
- Actor Eddie Mitchell began his career as a vocalist in the famous group Les Chaussettes Noires (The Black Socks). One of the group's songs, Dactylo Rock, which Eddie wrote in 1961, is featured in the film.
- The film features the name of the company “ICM”. The filmmakers did not have permission to use the name “IBM”.
- Saint-Frambourg is named as Rose’s hometown, while filming took place in Bassilly, Normandy.
- Rosa uses an Adler Triumph typewriter, a model where the extreme upper letters on the right side of the keyboard are “AZERTY.” This keyboard layout is popular among French-speaking users in Europe. English-speaking users prefer a typewriter with a different layout – there, the upper letters on the right side of the keyboard are “QWERTY.” In Switzerland and Luxembourg, it is “QWERTZ.”
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
