We enjoyed this fluffy French meringue about a naïve 1950s secretary whose boss enters her in a speed typing competition for its humor, set dressing, and style. Déborah François (mother of The Child (2005)) is adorable and Romain Duris (last blogged in Heartbreaker) ably plays the boss. One could imagine their parts played by Doris Day and Cary Grant. Supporting help comes from Bérénice Bejo (romantic lead in The Artist) as a friend and noted French actress Miou-Miou (Jonah who will be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976) and the classic lesbian drama Entre Nous (1983), among her 89 credits) as Duris' mother.
Director Régis Roinsard and his co-writers Daniel Presley and Romain Compingt make their feature debuts. Roinsard's nomination for a César (French Oscar) for Best First Film should help him make a deal for another.
Apparently there have been speed typing competitions for years but we hadn't heard of them. As a piano student I seldom used the correct fingering out of laziness and avoided typing class in school in the 1960s so as to assure never taking a secretarial job. Then when I had one, briefly, I was a mess. Now I'm up to four fingers and one thumb on computer keyboards, fewer on mobile devices.
The rounded typewriters in the movie are things of beauty, as are the cars--Jack and I do enjoy technology from days gone by.
The music, by Robin Coudert and Emmanuel D'Orlando, is sweet Henry Mancini-style, well-suited to the period. You can listen to clips on the British amazon site, where Coudert's name is shortened to simply Rob. My favorite track, linked here in its entirety, is La machine à écrire by Gilbert Becaud, which is, in the movie, a big production number. It now supersedes Briony by Dario Marianelli from the movie Atonement and this one as the best typing song.
Sorry I didn't write about this when it played locally but we saw it on its last day almost two weeks ago. The DVD release date hasn't yet been announced but you can stream it on netflix right now. Rottentomatoes critics average 73% to audiences' 71 but we liked it. Note for parents: there is one sex scene with nudity (can't really imagine Day and Grant doing that, can we?).
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