Populaire (film)

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Populaire
Directed by Régis Roinsard
Produced by Alain Attal
Written by Daniel Presley
Régis Roinsard
Romain Compingt
Starring Romain Duris
Déborah François
Music by Rob and Emmanuel d'Orlando
Cinematography Guillaume Schiffman
Editing by Laure Gardette
Sophie Reine
Studio Les Productions du Tresor
Distributed by Mars Distribution
Release dates
  • 17 November 2012 (2012-11-17) (Sarlat Film Festival)
  • 28 November 2012 (2012-11-28) (France)
Running time 111 minutes[1]
Country France
Belgium
Language French
Budget €14.7 million[2]
Box office $5,315,819[3]

Populaire is a 2012 French romantic comedy film directed by Régis Roinsard. It was co-written by Roinsard, Daniel Presley and Romain Compingt. Populaire was released in France on 28 November 2012. The film's title is taken from the name of the typewriter (Japy Populaire) used in the film. Populaire tells the story of Rose Pamphyle (Déborah François), who is trained by Louis Échard (Romain Duris) to become the fastest typist in the world through winning the 1959 international speed typing contest in New York City.

Plot

Set in 1958–1959, Populaire focuses on Rose Pamphyle (Déborah François), who lives with her widowed father and is destined to marry a son of the local mechanic. Rose travels out of town and applies for a secretarial job with an insurance agency run by Louis Échard (Romain Duris). Louis learns that Rose can type with extraordinary speed and he tells her to compete in a speed-typing competition if she wants the job. Louis then begins training Rose to become the fastest typist in the world.

Cast

Production

Casting

Belgian actress Déborah François plays Rose Pamphyle.

Roinsard was planning to cast an unknown actress in the lead role of Rose Pamphyle, but chose Belgian actress Déborah François after she impressed him in her audition.[4] After asking her father to find a typewriter for her, François practised for a week before the audition.[4] She told Georgia Dehn from The Daily Telegraph, "I was so fast at the audition that everyone watching asked whether I had done it much before. Of course I didn't admit to practising. I told them, 'I'm just really motivated, I really want the part, I'm ready for competition.'"[4] François believed that she connected with Rose as soon as she finished reading the script. She loved Rose's clumsiness and thought she was a bit like herself.[4] François underwent six months of professional typing coaching before filming commenced. She had to practice for up to three hours every day.[4] The actress explained that as they wanted it to be real, nothing is sped up in the film and her hands are featured in every scene.[4]

Romain Duris was cast as Louis Échard. Duris was initially concerned about whether the costumes and style would take over causing the film to be stuck in the past. He said he needed the film to feel live and real.[5] The actor watched several films starring Cary Grant and James Stewart as well as French classics directed by Marcel Carne and Claude Chabrol to see the differences between the provinces and Paris and the ways in which people behaved and spoke in the 1950s.[5]

Costume design

Costume designer Charlotte David created and designed many of the clothes for the film. David previously created costumes for OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, which was also set in France in the fifties.[6] Laure Guilbault from Women's Wear Daily reported that the look of Populaire was inspired by Funny Face, The Seven Year Itch and Alfred Hitchcock films.[6] François revealed that she gave her own input for the costumes, saying "I loved being involved in the creation of costumes. I could say that these suspenders should be thinner, or this skirt should be worn with an extra petticoat, or have a bow added."[6] David thought the right lingerie was crucial to the look and pointy bras, girdles and bodices were used to underpin the silhouettes.[6] Some of the lingerie was made by Parisian corsetry house Cadolle.[6]

As Rose is "a young provincial woman", she often wears pretty dresses, while Bejo's character Marie, who is married to an American man, has a casual early Sixties look.[6] David explained that she wanted Marie to be a modern woman and she found printed fabrics for her costumes at De Gilles, a fabric shop in Paris, which she used to make short pants. She then completed the look with silk knit jerseys, ballet shoes, headbands and tight cardigans.[6] Lelia Delval, the hairstylist for Populaire, gave Bejo a red wig to wear, which the actress liked so much, she dyed her real hair red for her next film.[6] The men wore tailor-made suits and tie clips. Duris' character Louis sports a vintage Jaeger-LeCoultre watch.[6]

Music

The musical score of the film was written by French artists Rob and Emmanuel d'Orlando. The soundtrack also uses pre-existing music tracks.[7] It was released on 28 November 2012.[8] Roinsard decided to use music from three years before and after the year in which the film takes place.[7] When choosing the pre-existing music, Roinsard combined his love of American lounge music, light jazz and '50s composers with French songs by lesser-known artists such as Jack Ary, Jacqueline Boyer and Les Chaussettes Noires, whose singer Eddy Mitchell appears in the film.[7][9] Roinsard thought Rob and Emmanuel d'Orlando's score added "great emotional impact to the film."[7] The director was inspired by both '50s and '60s recording methods for the score, which was recorded in France.[7] Roinsard added "The end result is close to a musical and I'm delighted since Stanley Donen and Bob Fosse are favorites of mine."[7]

Release

Populaire had its world premiere at the Sarlat Film Festival. It was then released in France on 28 November 2012.[10] Populaire played at the Glasgow Film Festival in February, before it was released in the UK on 31 May 2013.[1][5] The film will be released on 6 September in the United States.[11]

Reception

Critical response

Populaire earned €406,295 upon its opening weekend in France. The film opened to 450 theatres and landed at number three in the French box office top ten.[12] As of 28 May 2013, Populaire has grossed $5,315,819 worldwide.[3] Metacritic, which assigns a score of 1–100 to individual film reviews, gave Populaire an average rating of 60 based on four reviews.[13]

Jérôme Vermelin from Metro France commented "Full of charm, this first film by young director Régis Roinsard is carried by an irresistible duo of Romain Duris and Deborah François."[14] Liz Beardsworth from Empire gave Populaire three stars and wrote "Roinsard keeps control of a film that vacillates between frothy fun and more serious social comment and cleverly uses subplots and supporting characters (including The Artist's Bérénice Bejo) to touch on weightier themes. Quaint, but charming."[15]

IndieWire's Kaleem Aftab awarded the film a B− and stated "With a great cast and sufficient laughs, Populaire could find international audiences, but it's no Amelie. The orthodox script will not broaden appeal outside the dedicated romcom market and the language barrier may also be a problem for some."[16] Boyd van Hoeij, writing for Variety, said the film is "a colorful and impeccably styled romantic comedy that manages to turn the speed-typing competitions of the 1950s into entertaining cinematic fodder."[17] He went on to praise the performances of Duris and François, but thought the story did not quite take any unexpected turns or reveal any deeper emotions.[17]

Accolades

Award Category Recipients and nominees Result
Athens Francophone Film Festival[18] Audience Award Populaire Won
César Award[19] Best Cinematography Guillaume Schiffman Nominated
Best Costume Design Charlotte David Nominated
Best First Film Régis Roinsard Nominated
Best Music Written for a Film Rob and Emmanuel d'Orlando Nominated
Best Production Design Sylvie Olivé Nominated
City of Lights, City of Angels Festival[20] First Feature Award Populaire – Régis Roinsard Won
French Film Awards[21] Director-producer duo Régis Roinsard and Alain Attal Won
French Film Festival in Japan[22] Audience Prize Populaire Won
Globes de Cristal Award[23] Best Actress Déborah François Nominated
Magritte Award[24] Best Foreign Film in Coproduction Nominated
Best Actress Déborah François Nominated
San Francisco Film Festival[25] Best Narrative Feature Populaire Won

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Populaire (2012)". British Board of Film Classification. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013. 
  2. ↑ "Film production in 2011" (in French). CNC. 27 February 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Populaire". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Dehn, Georgia (27 May 2013). "Déborah François interview for Populaire: 'Acting felt like a fantasy'". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group). Retrieved 1 June 2013. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Mowe, Richard (9 February 2013). "Chic cheerful". The Herald (Newsquest). Retrieved 1 June 2013. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Guilbault, Laure (27 November 2012). "Mad Hommes: Behind the Scenes of 'Populaire'". Women's Wear Daily. Fairchild Fashion Media. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 McCue, Michelle (7 May 2013). "Conversations With Director Régis Roinsard & Actress Bérénice Béjo". We Are Movie Geeks. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  8. ↑ "Populaire (Bande originale du film)". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  9. ↑ Mintzer, Jordan (11 November 2012). "Populaire: Rome Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  10. ↑ "World Tour" (in French). Sarlat Film Festival. Retrieved 1 June 2013. 
  11. ↑ "Populaire (2013)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 1 June 2013. 
  12. ↑ "Box Office France> Week of November 28, 2012" (in French). AlloCiné. Retrieved 29 May 2013. 
  13. ↑ "Populaire". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  14. ↑ Vermelin, Jérôme (25 November 2012). "La bande-annonce de Populaire, avec Romain Duris". Metro France (in French) (Metro International). Retrieved 29 May 2013. 
  15. ↑ Beardsworth, Liz. "Populaire". Empire. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  16. ↑ Aftab, Kaleem (11 November 2012). "Why the Funny and Familiar 'Populaire' Panders to U.S. Audiences". IndieWire. SnagFilms. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Hoeij, Boyd van. "Review: "Populaire"". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  18. ↑ Grivas, Alexis (11 April 2013). "Our Children wins at Athens Francophone festival". Screen Daily. Emap International Limited. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  19. ↑ Richford, Rhonda (25 January 2013). "France's Cesar Awards Nominations: 'Camille Rewinds' Leads With 13, 'Amour' Gets 10". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 
  20. ↑ "17ème Festival de COLCOA : Le Palmarès!". AlloCiné (in French). Tiger Global. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
  21. ↑ "Awards and nominations: French Film Awards 2013". AlloCiné (in French). Tiger Global. Retrieved 26 June 2013. 
  22. ↑ "Populaire wins the Audience Prize at the French Film Festival in Japan". Unifrance. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013. 
  23. ↑ "Nommes 2013" (in French). Globes de Cristal. Retrieved 29 May 2013. 
  24. ↑ "Magritte du cinéma 2014" (in French). Académie André Delvaux. Retrieved January 9, 2014. 
  25. ↑ "56th San Francisco International Film Festival Wraps the Best 15 Days of the Year for World Cinema Lovers". San Francisco Film Society. 13 May 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2013. 

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