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.
