Set in 1950s France, Populaire tells the story of Rose Pamphyle (François), a young country girl who dreams of escaping the confines of her small village. Who is employed for a job as a secretary at an insurance firm by the dashing bachelor – and failed sportsman – Louis Echard (Romain Duris). On seeing how quickly she types he enters her into a local typing competition and Pamphyle proves she is a THE typist, capable of winning the country’s typing contests. Populaire arrives in cinemas on 31 May.
Déborah François & Romain Duris
In a recent interview by the Telegraph Newspaper, Déborah François said: ‘I trained on a typewriter for one week before the casting without telling the director,’ she says, laughing. I asked my dad to find me a typewriter to practise on, and I was so fast at the audition that everyone watching asked whether I had done it much before,’ François says. ‘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.”
