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Misbehaviour

In this dismal year of pandemic lockdowns and social polarisation it's a nice surprise when something catches you off guard. In this case, that thing is the film Misbehaviour. I wasn't sure what to expect, I only knew who was in it and that it was set at the Miss World contest of 1970. This is one of those recent historical dramas that the Brits do so well - I'm thinking of little gems like Brassed Off or Made in Dagenham or Pride. They seem to have a knack of telling these important stories with a light, almost flippant touch, without leaning too far into the mawkishness that often blights their US counterparts. I think Misbehaviour would sit comfortably on the '20th Century, British-set, historical drama' shelf. If shelves were a going concern these days.

The film actually covers a lot of ground. Let me briefly explain the story. The Miss World contest of 1970 was the touch paper for the nascent Women's Liberation Movement in England. The film focuses on women on both sides of this event - namely Keira Knightley's character, Sally Alexander and Gugu-Mbatha Raw's Miss Grenada, Jennifer Hosten. They bring exactly the right amount of anger and pride to the roles (and Knightley can still crack a solid scowl). Aside from the two leads there are quite a few notable performances, Jessie Buckley, Keely Hawes, Greg Kinnear and Lesley Manville all have fun with their roles, though I'm not sure we needed so much screen time for Kinnear's Bob Hope.

When I said earlier that the film covers a lot of ground, try these on: sexism, racism, the UK class system, generational changes in parenting, corruption, early #MeToo, and politics (specifically South African apartheid). Amazingly, it doesn't seem like too much to cram in, and it usually would do. Most of those themes are just brushed upon. One interesting angle - the film actually seems to suggest that the result of the contest was fiddled due to a judge with a 'conflict of interests'. Further research only vaguely backs this up. There is one moment where Mbatha-Raw and Knightley meet after all the flour has hit the fan and, though unlikely, it has a quiet power to it. It's the point in the film where an ever so slight justification for the contest is put forward, Mbatha-Raw telling Knightley that young black girls may see her as a role model and hinting that non-white women can't afford the luxury of women's liberation. It's the key scene in the film.

A pair of marriages on the periphery of the story are well handled in that the wives (Keely Hawes's Julia Morley and Lesley Manville's Dolores Hope) appear to hold many of the cards over their spouses. The film shows them to be sensible and mature, with a calm wisdom - completely opposed to their husbands. It probably helped that Eric Morley and Bob Hope were such a couple of bell-ends. The pace of the film is quite zippy, with no real flat spots and only one or two 'woohoo' moments that felt a little naff - who would've thought making flyers could be so much fun? There's a scene near the end where Knightley and her old-fashioned mum have a bit of a thaw that brought a minor lumpage to my throat. And the reveals of the real life women of the story is a neat way to end the film. All in all, Misbehaviour is an unexpected treat.

See also:

On a similar theme, Nigel Cole's Made in Dagenham (2010) and one of the best Black Mirror episodes, and starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, San Junipero (2016).

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