REVIEW: POPULAIRE

Going to see Roinsard's latest feature, Populaire, I was fairly open minded. The trailer portrays the film to show the story of a secretary entering a speed-typing competition with hints toward a romance between her boss/coach. In reality, the film shows so much more than this and is filled with interesting content. One of the key plot points that interested me was the secretary, Rose's, relationship with her father. Through the means of the competition, we get a subplot of Rose's relationship with her disapproving father. This ignorance of the older generations disapproval of both the newly popularised profession of a secretary combined with his disregard for the fame and money that could come with winning the competition makes the audience sympathise with Rose, a woman who is trying to do the best for herself in a time where women perhaps weren't given the independence that they are in the modern day.

With the acting by both Romain Duris and Déborah François being exceptional (perhaps Oscar-worthy? Watch this space), the film is a light hearted comic love story between an unlikely couple that is easy to watch and highly enjoyable.

I have an undying love for French cinema, the passion and excitement that has been there for decades and decades never fails to impress me, from the likes of Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 masterpiece 'Breathless' to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's stunning 'Amelie', released in 2001, French director's seem to have a timeless perfection for the small details, and in Populaire's case, this comes through in the mise en scene.

Set in the '50s, Populaire is a highly stylised film, with everything from the outfits, to the props

(typewriter porn, if you ask me), and even simply the colours. The film feels like a dream in a lot of scenes due to the colours and outfits, fitting in with Rose's situation, she is living the dream of every young girl in France. Much of the joy of watching the film comes with the stylised miss en scene working in collaboration with a solid and fun script.

Opening night at the cinema in East London I saw it in was not very busy, perhaps because of the French language of the film, or perhaps of the pure lack of mass-media marketing of the film (I attend the cinema numerous times a week and have only seen the trailer a few times, and only ever seen three posters for the film at London Underground stations), however despite the films lack of audience in this one cinema, I believe that Populaire is an amazing addition to the already fantastic French films that have been circulating international cinemas in recent years.