A French-American Miss for France

This weekend saw the election of Miss France 2009 – an affair carried live on TF1 national television, watched by over nine million viewers, and won by Chloé Mortaud.

Just a week before Miss World 2008 is due to be chosen in South Africa, this country was busy deciding who would carry its crown for next year and, in the words of the organisers, become the face of France and in a sense an ambassador to the rest of the world.

The winner – a 19-year-old with dual French-US nationality.

Whether the whole idea of beauty pageants belong to a bygone era is of course up for debate.

Views range as to whether they really have any relevance to the place of women in the 21st century.

There are those who might see them as degrading, a meaningless jamboree of airheads with legs and other prominent bits and pieces looking for the fast track to domestic and international “stardom” based primarily on their looks.

And then there’s the opinion, as expressed at least by the organising committee here in France, that it’s the chance to find a face, a young woman who can act for a year as a goodwill ambassador for the country both at home and abroad while dedicating time to charitable causes.

You takes your pick and you makes your choice.

Whatever the case, this weekend’s competition and the eventual winner are perhaps both quite revealing in what they say about the make up of France.

For starters take the candidates – 36 of them representing the country’s different regions here in metropolitan (or if you like mainland) France and its overseas departments and territories.

In a real sense, Miss France is a mini Miss World, with contestants coming from around the globe, because French borders aren’t confined to Europe.

Be warned, you might have to reach for your atlas to find some of these places.

From the Caribbean there were Misses Guadeloupe and Martinique (who will also be sending different contestants to Miss World). South America was represented by Miss Guyana.

The Indian ocean island of Mayotte (between northern Madagascar and Mozambique) sent its Miss as did “nearby” Réunion, and from the Pacific ocean there were representatives from New Caledonia and Tahiti.

Let’s not forget North America either while we’re at it, in the shape of the Saint Pierre and Miquelon just south of Newfoundland, whose candidate was making a first time appearance at the event.

And that takes us nicely on the winner, 19-year-old Chloé Mortaud or Miss Albigeois-Midi-Pyrénées as was – that’s a region in the southwest of (mainland) France for those of you still stuck with your noses in an atlas, incorporating the city of Toulouse.

Born and brought up in France, Mortaud actually holds dual French-US nationality. She’s of mixed race (or métisse as the French say – as was last year’s winner, Valérie Bègue, but more on her in a moment) bilingual in English and French and is an undergraduate studying business management in Toulouse.




While the crowning of Miss France 2009 might have been the highlight of the three-hour television spectacle, the anticipated and much touted confrontation between last year’s winner, Valérie Bègue, and the president of the organising committee, Geneviève de Fontenay, never happened.

The two women had a very public falling-out shortly after last year’s event when “suggestive” photographs of Bègue, the former Miss Réunion, appeared in a monthly magazine, Entrevue.

They had been snapped privately a few years earlier and sent anonymously to the magazine after Bègue’s “coronation”, leading to calls from de Fontenay for her to resign as they had contravened a pre-competition contract that contestants sign to guarantee they had never been photographed in compromising positions.

The stand off was eventually resolved with Bègue retaining her title but being banned from representing France at international competitions (such as Miss World or Miss Universe) and de Fontenay instead focussing her efforts on promoting last year’s runner up, Vahinerii Requillart (Miss New Caledonia) and preparing for the 2009 event.

De Fontenay is something of an institution here in France. The outspoken 76-year-old, who’s never seen in public without her trademark hat, has been organising the Miss France competition for 53 years.

She had steadfastly refused to share the stage with Bègue during this weekend’s show and her wish was respected, with the presenter, Jean-Pierre Foucault, informing viewers that “Valérie isn’t here this evening because Geneviève didn’t wish her to be.”

Instead there was a live link to Los Angeles where Bègue said she was “currently in negotiations for a role in a film.”

So peace has returned to the Miss France world for the moment, with the newly crowned Mortaud taking on the coronet for the next year and beginning the endless round of television and newspaper interviews that immediately followed.

Meanwhile next week in Johannesburg, the French contestant will not be Bègue or even Requillart, who has withdrawn from international competition for “personal reasons” but the 2008 third-placed, Laura Tanguy.

One aside to the whole pageant perhaps was its somewhat incongruous TV scheduling.

Not for the first year, while TF1 was showing the event live, over on France 2 and France 3 public television the annual telethon was underway to raise money for medical research.

After more than 30 hours of continuous broadcasting, it finished at 1am on Sunday morning and raised promised donations of more than €95 million.

Finally, back on TF1, perhaps the most memorable moment of the evening belonged to Miss Mayotte, 20-year old Esthel Nee.

When asked what her plans for the future were the first year old law student didn’t hesitate.

“I would like to be in politics – perhaps in the cultural field, and maybe who knows, even become president of France,” she replied.

“This is my first election and maybe not my last.”

Nee finished fourth.