Misbehaviour
Directed by: Philippa Lowthorpe
Runtime: 106 minutes
I admit, I spent a few days thinking quite hard about Phillipa Lowthorpe’s Misbehaviour, the dramatisation of how the women’s liberation movement protested the 1970 Miss World competition and thrust women’s rights onto the page of every major newspaper in the world. Not because I was necessarily baffled by the film itself, but because I was busy trying to figure out if a film can offer up a wonderfully nuanced take on a very important issue while also just being fine.
After quite a bit of thought, I’ve settled that it’s possible a film can be just fine while imparting a very timely and important message. Misbehaviour is one of those films.
As a whole, Misbehaviour is what you’d expect from British production; a period piece stuffed full of well-known British names, the prerequisite, slightly random, American castings (Greg Kinnear playing a fabulously sleazy American with gusto) to jar against British sensibilities, and a story told with the kind of warmth I always associate with British film. It’s well-acted, well-made, and reflects on the timely subject of women’s rights and, for me, that means it joins a plethora of films like Pride and Calendar Girls.
Keira Knightley barely stretches her acting muscles in this film as the main protagonist, Sally Alexander, vacillating between indignation, confusion, and frustration in all her scenes. Rhys Ifans provides a gloriously strange portrayal of the founder of Miss World, Eric Morley, and Keeley Hawes only solidified my opinion of her as a terrific actor with a performance that showed how steeliness can be disguised by poise and how a woman can work around a man by letting him think he’s in charge. The seventies really comes through in this film, with particular attention paid to costuming and sets that provides an atmosphere to the film that could have been lacking.
But what elevates this film, what gives this fine film an important message, isn’t the story of Sally Alexander and the white women who protest against a sexist competition and come out on top—it is the story of Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Miss Grenada, Jennifer Hoston, an altogether more important, more compelling story. Mbatha-Raw’s Miss Grenada is quiet, dignified and determined and carries the story of Jennifer Hoston with an importance that drags Knightley’s story up with her. The most powerful moment of the film belongs to Mbatha-Raw—a moment at the end when Knightley’s Sally discovers that what she has protested so visibly for isn’t as universal as she thought, and it’s that moment that makes this film worth seeing for that message alone.
So, if you’re ever in the mood for a British film that ticks all the boxes, will make you feel good about life for a few seconds afterwards, and imparts a very timely, very important message, Misbehaviour is worth a look.