It’s said beauty is skin deep. But over the years it was imbibed on everyone’s mind that fair skin is the symbol of beauty. Again the male dominating society objectifies women without understanding their inner feelings. women’s liberation movements across the world have fought for many issues including these. British film Misbehaviour depicts one of the first major women’s liberation movements which took place fifty years ago. Based on true incidents the film tries to delve into the inner selves of intersectional feminism.
The film Misbehaviour is about behavioural science of women who want to brush off patriarchy. Also it throws light on apartheid, black-white conflict though subtly. In the seventies Miss World beauty pageants were hugely popular throughout the world because it had a great viewership, in other words, loads of money. Though India was out of it due to television still being distant dream then, but we did send our representative and also one of the Maharajahs was on the jury panel. At that time Miss World was the most-watched TV show in the world with over 100 million viewers. Arguing that beauty competitions objectify women, a group of women decides to invade the venue and disrupt the show so as the world would understand the plights of millions of women.
Sally Alexander (Keira Knightley) is a bright and ambitious history student who struggles to be taken seriously by her male counterparts at college. She meets an over zealous student Jo Robinson (Jessie Buckley) on campus, who is involved in the women’s liberation movement. Initially reluctant to join their group, Sally gets appalled observing her own daughter getting influenced by the beauty pageant activities, decides to be part of the protesting group. They plan and get into the hall where Miss World competition is being held and hurl tomatoes and flour bombs at the host Bob Hope (Greg Kinnear), baffling him. The group’s slogan is ‘We are not beautiful, we are not ugly – we are Angry’. Also they object to women being treated as cattle market commodities.
On the sidelines are streams of other story pegs of the contestants. Because of cry of colour racism, the organisers rope in couple of black girls in the contest, Miss Grenada Jennifer Hosten (GuguMbatha-Raw) and Pearl Jensen (Loreece Harrison). Through Jennifer and Pearl, we get an insider’s view on the contest and the contestants. Jennifer bags the crown of Miss World and Pearl is adjusted first runner up, to the surprise and dismay to millions.
Misbehaviour highlights the conflict along the lines of race, gender, and class but refuses to take a hard line on it. The director takes a safer route of not rubbing men on the wrong side. Again too many storylines makes it little weak as far as the movement is concerned. Misbehaviour, a film from Philippa Lowthorpe shows sincerity in efforts and intention but pointed screenplay would have increased the impact. It tries to attach patriarchy and intersectional feminism and all the performances are top notch.
