Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #149. Misbehavior – Philippa Lowthorpe

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Misbehavior

Celebrated British television director Philippa Lowthorpe (the first woman to win a BAFTA TV Award for Directing for 2012’s “Call the Midwife,” an award she won again for 2017’s “Three Girls”) is poised for her cinematic breakthrough with her sophomore film Misbehavior. Headlined by Keira Knightley, the 1970 period piece documents the happenings of London’s Miss World pageant, and finds a strong supporting cast in Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Lesley Manville, Greg Kinnear, Jessie Buckley, Keeley Hawes and Rhys Ifans. Lowthorpe’s cinematic debut, Swallows and Amazons, was adapted from a 1930s adventure novel by Arthur Ransome. Her latest is produced by Suzanne Mackie from Left Bank Pictures.

Gist: Written by Rebecca Frayn and Gaby Chiappe, this documents the disruption of the 1970 Miss World pageant in London, which saw the televised production (the most watched show in the world at the time) disrupted by the newly formed Women’s Liberation Movement, protesting how the competition demeans women. Following the disruption, more upset occurred at the Bob Hope hosted event when Miss Grenada beat out the favorite contestant for the title, becoming the first black woman to win Miss World.

Release Date/Prediction: Currently in pre-production, we expect Misbehavior to be ready for the Fall 2019 festival circuit with a potential premiere in Toronto.

Nicholas Bell
Nicholas Bell
Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), FIPRESCI, the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2023: The Beast (Bonello) Poor Things (Lanthimos), Master Gardener (Schrader). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.

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