Miss Montigny
30/05/17 Filed in: Amazon Prime
The Amazon summary of this film labelled it as comedy, but I certainly wouldn't describe it as such. In fact, in many ways it is quite sad, the ending in particular being a bit bitter sweet.
The story takes place in Montigny, a former mining town in Belgium. Sandrine is our central character who works in a supermarket promoting cheese but dreams of opening a beauty salon. She's already found a run-down premises, which her and her friend Gianna are trying to redecorate. Sandrine's mother Anna is very supportive, too much so as it ultimately turns out. Meanwhile, Anna's relationship with Sandrine's father isn't all that it should be and her life goal seems to be to help Sandrine succeed where she herself feels she has failed.
Raising money for the salon is proving to be difficult and, encouraged by her mother, Sandrine signs up for the Miss Montigny contest in the hope of winning and using the prize money to realise her dream. At the sign up, Sandrine and her friend Gianna fill in the forms, guessing their vital statistics. This bit of laxity ends up being a big mistake.
The prospective Miss Montigny candidates are required to undergo training: comportment, singing etc., their tutor being a bit of a demanding woman. At a certain point their measurements are checked, and Sandrine is told that she is not eligible to continue as her bust measurement is too small. Something for the feminists to feel aggrieved about. She doesn't tell her mum. We were earlier introduced to her boyfriend, Palo, albeit briefly as he was fleeing from his apartment owing three month's rent, bound for Brussels. He returns to see Sandrine while she is drumming up support at a local sports' event, where they disappear for a bit of romance - much to her mother's annoyance. From this point on Sandrine is pulled between staying in Montigny and fulfilling her mother's dreams for her, or joining Palo in Brussels.
Sandrine and her mother have some savings towards the beauty salon, and Sandrine decides to use some of the money to resolve the inadequacy of her breasts - quite unnecessarily in my view. This gets her back in the competition and as we watch her perform her song in the final, we all feel that surely she has won. And then they announce the first three places in reverse order, in time honoured fashion. She seems happy and confident, but the reason for her demeanour isn't quite what you would expect.
A pleasant little film that while not in my view a comedy, certainly isn't in any way heavy. As is invariably the case in French language films, it's about the travails of life.
Sandrine and her mother have some savings towards the beauty salon, and Sandrine decides to use some of the money to resolve the inadequacy of her breasts - quite unnecessarily in my view. This gets her back in the competition and as we watch her perform her song in the final, we all feel that surely she has won. And then they announce the first three places in reverse order, in time honoured fashion. She seems happy and confident, but the reason for her demeanour isn't quite what you would expect.
A pleasant little film that while not in my view a comedy, certainly isn't in any way heavy. As is invariably the case in French language films, it's about the travails of life.