, image = , alt = , caption = , director = Patrice Leconte , producer = Jean-Philippe Blime
Franck Chorot , writer = Fred Cavayé

Guillaume Lemans Guillaume Lemans is a French screenwriter and film producer. He received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for '' Just a Breath Away (Dans la brume)''. Filmography *'' Anythin ...

Franck Chorot
Jean-Philippe Blime , starring =

Benoît Poelvoorde Benoît Poelvoorde (, ; born 22 September 1964) is a Belgian actor and comedian. Early life His mother was a grocer and his father a driver, who died when Poelvoorde was still a minor. He attended the Jesuit Boarding School of Godinne before ...

Olivia Bonamy Olivia Bonamy (born 21 September 1972) is a French actress. She is best known for her appearances in the films '' Jefferson in Paris'', Jacques Audiard's '' Read My Lips'', the thriller '' Ils'' and '' Le ciel, les oiseaux et ta mère''. Biogr ...

, music = Étienne Perruchon , cinematography = Jean-Marie Dreujou , editing = Joëlle Hache , studio = , distributor = , released = , runtime = 89 minutes , country = France , language = French , budget = $11.2 million , gross = $1.7 million ''Beauties at War'' is a 2008 French film. Originally titled ''La guerre des Miss'' in French, the film aired in France on 9 January 2009, directed by Patrice Leconte. It was also shown at the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

2009.

Plot

The villages of Charmoussey and Super-Charmoussey (Upper Charmoussey) have been longtime rivals despite the fact that many of their inhabitants are related to each other. While Charmoussey is relatively poor, Upper-Charmoussey enjoys the luxuries of a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

and thus a better economy than its sister village. The rivalry is also stressed because of the local

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

, where the better trained and dressed girls of Upper-Charmoussey always win the contest. Since the size of both

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

is very small, the local government has decided to merge Charmoussey into Upper-Charmoussey, this leaves the inhabitants of Charmoussey desperate because it is their last chance to win the beauty contest. In order to achieve that, they call the only person who has had any success outside the village, Franck (

) a second rate actor, who has been engaged mostly as an extra in many films (playing dead people) and is currently down on his luck after causing an accident that resulted in breaking the leg of actress

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

(his biggest role so far). It is revealed that he left the village because he was regarded as strange and because his father was an eccentric scientist who died in trying a flying suit. He feels uneasy at coming back to his hometown but also recognizes that he cannot afford not to, so he uses his limited showbiz knowledge to train the local girls. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Upper-Charmoussey have learned from the local postman that Franck has been engaged in training the contestants and start a counter espionage campaign of their own.

Cast

: Franck Chevrel *

: Cécile * Laurent Gamelon: Gaby *

Jean-Paul Comart Jean-Paul Comart (born 27 September 1953) is a Belgian actor best known for his appearances in French film in the 1980s. He has appeared in films, TV and in the theatre. Since 2000, Comart has mostly appeared on television, playing Inspector M ...

: The host * Michèle Garcia: The mayor of Super Charmoussey *

Jacques Mathou Jacques Mathou is a French actor, best known for his appearance in ''Delicatessen''. Filmography * 1985 : '' Tranches de vie'' * 1986 : ''Betty Blue'', Bob * 1987 : ''L'été en pente douce'' * 1987 : '' Si le soleil ne revenait pas'' * 1989 : ' ...

: The mayor of Charmoussey * Christian Charmetant: The mayor of Super-Charmoussey

References

External links

* * * 2008 films French comedy films 2000s French-language films Films directed by Patrice Leconte 2000s French films {{2000s-France-film-stub