Difficulty rating: ★★✩✩✩Easygoing / ★★★★✩ Tough Cookie
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Historical Romance
Summary
Populaire follows the success story of young Rose Pamphyle, an aspiring "modern woman" in 1950's France. She dreams of breaking out from her small town to become a secretary in a large city - and do so she does! Before long, her boss Louis Échard notices her unique knack for typing. Louis take young Rose under his wing with hopes of turning her into a typing champion. Along the way, the two struggle to define their relationship; boss and employee? Coach and trainee? Friends? Or lovers?
Mini-Critique
Most importantly: keep the English subtitles on! Without subtitles, Populaire is definitely a ★★★★★ Say What?! difficulty rating, as it is filled with rapid-fire French, difficult accents, and retro slang. As for the film itself, prepare to be swept off your feet. The costumes and sets are phenomenal, you really get pulled back into the 1950's! The actors are endearing and the overall aesthetic of the movie is a pleasing retro-romantic twist that any rom-com lover will adore.
Difficulty Rating
★★✩✩✩Easygoing / ★★★★✩ Tough Cookie
See our "About" page for an overview of our difficulty ratings!
Like 99% of native French movies, Populaire's characters speak quickly and use a fair amount of slang. Because of this, I would rate Populaire as a ★★★★✩ Tough Cookie without subtitles. However, with subtitles Populaire is a fairly easy watch, and would therefore merit an ★★✩✩✩Easygoing rating. If you choose to watch populaire with subtitles test your skills one in a while; try to ignore the subtitles for small periods of time and see if you can keep up with the plot.
Check out Populaire on Netflix!