The fabulous retro look and joie de vivre of this French lark are so infectious, it’s easy to forgive its fatal flaw: Watching someone type is just not that interesting.
It’s 1958, and Rose Pamphyle (Déborah François) is a young woman yearning to escape her destiny of working at her family’s small-town shop. Fascinated with the newfangled typewriter on sale in their store, she finds she has an aptitude for lightning-fast keystrokes. Beating out less dextrous candidates, she wins a big-city job as secretary to the handsome but curmudgeonly Louis (Romain Duris), who subverts his steely “Mad Men” exterior by volunteering to coach her for speed-typing competitions.
François is an Audrey Hepburn-like vision of pluck and circle skirts, and Duris smolders adorably. Bérénice Bejo (“The Artist”) appears briefly, and likably, as Duris’ former love and the wife of his best friend (Shaun Benson). But director Régis Roinsard could have halved the repetitive typing competition footage and come out with a much more swift-footed film.
Running time: 101 minutes. Rated R (sex). At the Lincoln Plaza, the City Cinemas Village East.