La guerre des miss (2008) Online

As a harmless, moderately funny suburbia comedy, very much in the British tradition of Full Monty, Calender Girls, etc.,La Guerre des Miss is fine and passes the time fairly pleasantly. However, coming from a director of Patrice Lecaonte's stature, who's given us gems such as Ridicule and The Hairdresser's Husband, this is a major let down & disappointment.

The thin and fairly predictable storyline concerns a bitter rivalry between two adjacent French villages, one affluent & the other struggling. An annual local beauty contest, which the affluent village has won consistently, becomes the film's point of conflict and the hub of the story. In a desperate attempt to match their affluent neighbours practice of bringing in beauty consultants to coach their candidates, the best the struggling villagers can come up with is to invite Franck, one of their old boys, whose greatest claim to fame is appearing as an extra on French TV movies, to coach their girls. Franck's attempts at getting the girls in shape for the contest, and his relationship with an old flame, create an amusing and diverting hour and a half. Fans of Patrice Leconte however may be disappointed and could not be blamed for having higher expectations.

The alpine town of Charmoussey, has a sister village in the mountain above it. While Charmoussey is a blah kind of place, the ritzier higher elevated town is a picturesque resort, much favored by discerning tourists that come in droves during the season to enjoy the slopes. The only thing in common between the two towns is a beauty contest, that has been won since its inception by the more prosperous upper village.

The mayor of Charmoussey realizes he needs help if he is to have a local beauty get the crown and sash that goes with the prestige of having been judged to be the prettiest of the competing young women. For that, the town scrapes some funds and decide to bring a native man, Franck Chevrel, who has left town to become a film actor. Little do the citizens know about the real Franck, a man that has nothing to show for his years of trying to break into the business.

Franck's memories of the town he left seventeen years before, are not exactly pleasant. He had broken with Cecile, his girlfriend, that is kind enough to put him in her home because she sees he has no other way to survive. The trouble lies with the rebellious Camille, the teen aged daughter of Cecile who is into Goth fashions and questions everything Franck does. Franck will find there is a connection of sorts he never thought about.

The preparation for the contest is seen at different stages of the preparation and rehearsals. It becomes clear the lower town girls will be beaten by their rivals, even after Cecile decides to do the costumes and even after Camille is enlisted to take part in the competition. The good thing is that Franck realizes what he has lost after going after a glamorous life that did not happen.

Patrice Leconte is a serious filmmaker. We were surprised to see him at the helm of this comedy because he has done much serious work before. The problem seems to be in the thin material written for the comedy, which was probably a vehicle created for the star, Benoit Poelvoorde, a comic actor that is subdued by a screenplay that does not go anywhere. The film is mildly funny. Mr. Leconte has done better in his career, so this might be considered as a misfire.

For the fans of « Twin Peaks », this movie is a must-see as it has the same small town(s) setting and in addition the same public contest ! So we can see the similar facts but also the big differences in cultures and production. In a way, it was also close to « je fais le mort » as it's about a anonymous Parisian who returns to his country to become popular ! Those kinds of movies really speaks to me actually as i felt the same desire to go back to my roots.

So, this is an enjoyable movie, doped by an hilarious Benoit. In addition, he finds a great feminine team of a mother and her teen daughter. If the movie is funny, i expected more from Leconte who is was in the 80s a big name for this genre. I don't understand why he toned down the movie and the creativity of Benoit as the long making-of (50 mn for 89 mn to the movie) clearly shows that everyone laughed very much every day !

There is of course nothing new under the sun and back in 1954 John Steinbeck was moved to write a sequel of sorts to his pre-war novel Cannery Row. He called it Sweet Thursday and divided it into short 40 chapters one of which was called The Great Roque War and told of a serious rivalry between two teams who played roque, a variant of croquet. Whilst both teams lived in the same town, Pacific Grove, the rivalry was much the same as we get here between two towns with an annual beauty contest replacing the game of roque. Of the two people who have reviewed it here one has either a short memory or else is fairly young because he describes Leconte as a serious filmmaker which is true enough but he did begin his career by directing the Splendid Theatre company in Les Bronzes and Les Bronzes Font du ski and went on to make The Toilet Was Locked From The Inside, comedies all, to say nothing of Tango. Whatever niche he occupies Leconte is an experienced and professional director and although this is no Award winner it is entertaining and well made which is, after all, as much as we should expect from a leisure industry.