Introduction to the second screening of the Nanovic Institute's Spring 2022 Film Series organized in collaboration with the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Barbara Mennel, the Rothman Chair and Director of the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere and professor of film studies and German studies at the University of Florida gave a virtual introduction of film and co-lead the discussion. Her book “Women at Work in Twenty-First Century European Cinema” served as the inspiration for the spring series and received the 2022 Laura Shannon Prize Honorable Mention.
Description: 21-year-old Rose Pamphyle lives with her grouchy widower father who runs the village store. Engaged to the son of the local mechanic, she seems destined for the quiet, drudgery-filled life of a housewife in 1958. But that's not the life Rose longs for. When she travels to Lisieux in Normandy, where charismatic insurance agency boss Louis Echard is advertising for a secretary, the ensuing interview is a disaster. But Rose reveals a special gift - she can type at extraordinary speed. Unwittingly, the young woman awakens the dormant sports fan in Louis. If she wants the job she'll have to compete in a speed typing competition. Whatever sacrifices Rose must make to reach the top, Louis declares himself her trainer. He'll turn her into the fastest girl not only in the country, but in the world! But a love of sport doesn't always mix well with love itself ...
