Misbehaviour

Firstly I can't believe my eyes at the low review score. I watch (or try to) films from every Genre, depict every political and social narrative.

There is nothing to dislike here. It's not gender swapping shallow rehashes and trying to sell it with 4th wave feminism. It is a BRILLIANT and accessible film about a bunch of brave women. Now that isn't to imply we don't need a badass roster of women in our Marvel's and DC's but this is a story of real heroic women fighting against a seriously oppressive regime.

I thought that a few of the younger characters were going to be obnoxiously off-putting but for ONCE they aren't, for once despite a few slightly cringe moments near the start, they are real characters with the attitude to fight for change.

I think no matter what race you are, the colour of your skin or your gender you can take something away from this movie and see how we should all be continuing to fight against injustices from every angle.

9/10 is a very high mark. It didn't have a few hundred million pounds in CGI, hell the angles from many perspectives can seem confusing. However I disregard the notion that this is another "woke film". It is unironically woke.

It's the 1970 Miss World competition in London. Bob Hope (Greg Kinnear) is to be the host. Eric Morley (Rhys Ifans) is the organizer. Women are objectified in society. Sally Alexander (Keira Knightley) is divorced with a young girl. She gets into University College London for higher learning. She joins a women's liberation movement but is trying to work within the system. On the other hand, Jo Robinson (Jessie Buckley) is looking to take down the whole system, one graffiti at a time. Miss Sweden Marjorie Johansson is the favorite but is bitter at the situation. Due to pressure against apartheid, Morley quickly adds a black contestant from South Africa in addition to the white Miss South Africa. Miss Grenada Jennifer Hosten (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) wants to be a broadcaster.

It's a bit of lesser known history. It's told in a relatively light fashion. The characters are essentially split into three groups. Knightley and Buckley lead the story of the protesters. The three contestants form the group inside the pageant. Bob Hope and Morley are the clueless men representing the male patriarchy. Each group contributes something important and interesting. There are little nuggets of greatness but they are scattered everywhere. The movie would function better and more cohesively with fewer main characters. At last, that may not be possible to tell the whole story. There is a lot of stuff crammed into this light comedic movie. I do question the final meeting between Hosten and Alexander. Maybe it happened in real life. I would think that Hosten would be better off talking to Johnasson which is more likely. The meeting in the movie feels somewhat manufactured. All in all, one learns a little bit of light history done in a light humorous way.

There was no real bite. A reasonable watch, but it lacked something. Having grown up through the era where Miss World was presented as family entertainment, the culture made for some very uncomfortable viewing.

'Misbehaviour' tells an important story well; it's fairly fast-moving, has some great performances and is always engaging. While there's nothing outstanding in the filmmaking department, it's all well-done and supports its narrative by letting the characters and messages lead the way. Speaking of its messages, it has a great overall pro-equality stance that goes deeper than its feminist roots, covering issues like social class and racism. In that regard, it's a very important film for today as it's sadly all too relatable to current affairs. The flick does have a slight issue with the story it wants to tell, though. It focuses on both the liberation group and the 'Miss World competitors', especially Mbatha-Raw's Jennifer Hosten. While this does give the chance to view things from different perspectives and allows for the exploration of more themes, it makes things feel slightly muddled. Perhaps it would've benefited from choosing one perspective to focus the story through to make things a little more streamlined. Still, both storylines are effective and the thing works as a whole, but it just feels like something which could have improved the proceedings slightly. Overall, though, it's certainly worth the watch. 7/10

The trouble with beauty contests that it means different things around the world.

In Britain they acquired a reputation of being a cattle market that degraded women. As the years went by beauty contests went off the main television channels.

In the Americas, it can be used as a stepping stone to further your career objectives.

Misbehaviour has to tread this fine line. Based on the true incident of the 1970 Miss World Contest co-hosted by Bob Hope (Greg Kinnear.)

Sally Alexander (Keira Knightley) and Jo Robinson (Jessie Buckley) led a protest that showered Hope with flour on the night. It should had been rotten eggs as his act stank.

Sally is a mature university student who has to deal with sexist attitudes at university. She is appalled that Miss World is regarded by her own family as wholesome entertainment.

On the other hand for black contestants like Jennifer Hosten (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who is Miss Grenada and Pearl Jansen (Loreece Harrison) who is Miss Africa South. It offers an opportunity to break down barriers when the women are from impoverished backgrounds. Pearl Jansen is from a country where shs cannot even mix with whites.

Jansen was included as no black representative from South Africa had even entered. She would beat Miss South Africa in the contest. Miss Grenada was the first black winner, until then it would always be certain types that would win. White and blonde.

The film never quite gets to grip with the racial politics. It is lightly dealt with in contrast with the gender arguments. Sally and Jo could never appreciate the kind of world that some of the contestants came from.

One aspect of the competition that is glossed over was that the Morleys ran the contest with an iron grip.

Eric Morley (Rhys Ifan) comes across as a rough diamond. However they had strict rules which seemed absurd at the time. Constant chaperones for each contestant. If any contestant had posed nude or were married they would had been disqualified. In many ways such rules shielded the Miss World organisation from any later #MeToo allegations.

In the end Misbehaviour is an amiable film that overstates its feminist credentials.