Misbehaviour (2020)

Misbehaviour captures a real cultural flashpoint with the snap and swagger of a crowd-pleaser, turning the glitter of the 1970 Miss World broadcast into a lively battleground of ideas without ever losing its sense of fun. Philippa Lowthorpe keeps the tone brisk and witty, letting the absurdity of the spectacle sit right alongside the righteous anger behind the protest, while Keira Knightley and Jessie Buckley spark as two very different kinds of activists learning how to be heard. Just as crucial, Gugu Mbatha-Raw brings grace and steel to Jennifer Hosten, grounding the film in the quieter pressures of representation and expectation. If you want a hard-edged, exhaustive history lesson, this may feel a touch polished, but if you’re on the fence, it’s an engaging, warmly acted reminder that change can arrive in the most televised, unexpected ways.

Misbehaviour wants to be a crowd-pleasing, true-ish story about women taking on a sexist institution, balancing the Women’s Liberation protest with the Miss World contestants’ own battles over racism and objectification. The problem is it often plays like a tidy, feel-good ensemble drama that sands down the sharp edges of its politics, so if you’re hoping for something angrier, messier, or genuinely radical, this may feel a bit toothless. With so many threads to juggle, the film can come off superficial—big moments land, but the deeper complexities get rushed or softened into inspirational beats. Still, the cast is reliably strong (especially in the quieter character moments), and if you want an accessible, gently funny period piece with a clear message rather than a hard-hitting political film, it’ll likely do the job.