Almost incomplete faction: Miss France 2013 versus Téléthon

Every year it's the same story here in France.

The annual beauty pageant to elect the country's  newest Miss falls on the same weekend as the national Téléthon.

A kiss from the president of the jury Alain Delon, as Marine Lorphelin is crowned Miss France 2013 - Ah! (screenshot from TF1)

TF1 - ever the sharp private channel that it is - broadcasts the annual "Boobs and butts fest"...oh, terribly sorry... the search for the young lady who best fits the bill as France's most beautiful woman and meets a set of criteria which would make her fitting role model in the 21st century and an ambassador for the country...or something equally blah, blah, blah.

Meanwhile the public-owned France télévisions, and most notably France 2, treats viewers to the money-raising event meant to encourage the French to tune in and dig deep into their pockets for the muscular dystrophy charity l'Association française contre les myopathies (AFM).

No prizes for guessing which "wins" in terms of viewing figures or ratings. More than eight million watched Miss France being crowned while not even one-and-a-half million managed to stick with the Téléthon.

But hang about.

Wouldn't it be more rather more noble if the organisation which owns the rights to the pageant, the Dutch television production company Endemol, actually chose another date.

After all it surely wouldn't require too much organisational effort and it would avoid the clash of conscience so many French must have: cheesy glamour or worthy (albeit it somewhat soporific in its length) charity event.

Just for the record this year's Miss France and the young woman who will spend a year upholding the values of the country...you know, the three teas: frivolity, maternity and...um...qwerty (or should that be azerty?) is Marine Lorphelin, a 19-year-old medical student from the town of Mâcon.

Miss Burgundy - as was - "charmed the judges and television viewers" to be crowned the new Miss France ahead of Misses from Tahiti and Nord-Pas de Calais.

Also taking part in what must be the only truly global national beauty pageant around were Misses from other far flung regions of France (and not just the bit at the heart of Europe that everyone knows and loves) such as Guadaloupe, Guyane, Martinique, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Saint Martin and er...South Kensington!

Well why not?

After all, the French president François Hollande has just appointed TV environmentalist, journalist and miffed  Europe Écologie-The Greens presidential primary candidate Nicolas Hulot to the post of "Special envoy to protect the planet".

So why shouldn't France have women from around the world battling it out to be crowned the country's latest Miss?

Miss Black France - well-intentioned or divisive?

There's an election this weekend in Paris.

No nothing political.

Well at least it's not meant to be.

Saturday will see the crowning of this country's very first Miss Black France, a competition, which as France 24 says, "Has the distinction of recruiting candidates based only on the colour of their skin."

(screenshot from trailer)

The winner will be chosen from the 20 preselected contestants appearing at the Salle Wagram in Paris on Saturday; a panel of 10 judges determining the outcome.

Now put aside whatever you might think about beauty pageants (difficult perhaps) and try to answer the question posed in a piece on the France 24 website as to whether this competition is, "An Americanisation of the idea of a Miss, an innovative idea or the beginning of a slippery slope."

The whole thing is the brainchild of a long-time magazine journalist Frédéric Royer, who says the traditional Miss France competition has never really been entirely representative of the whole country.

"There have been mixed race candidates but they've generally come from the Overseas Départements and not been of direct African descent," he says, forgetting perhaps that Miss France 2000, Sonia Rolland, although brought up in mainland France was actually born in Rwanda to a French father and Tutsi mother.

"What I hope is that this competition will make it easier for more black women to make the covers of magazines."

Ah yes. Of course that's his aim; purely altruistic.

And he has been successful in convincing Conseil représentatif des associations noires (Cran) an umbrella group representing more than 120 associations, to back the contest.

Cran seems to have been persuaded that to paraphrase Royer, the beauty pageant is a "militant act, while at the same time remaining glamorous" and "will provide a boost for a large group of women under-represented in the mainstream media"

One voice speaking out against it though is, of all people, the founder and former president of Cran, Patrick Lozès.

He thinks the election goes against the principle in French society of communitarianism, which emphasises the responsibility of the individual to the community.

"The intentions behind the idea might well be honourable," he says.

"But the logic in the thinking is completely at odds with French society," he continues.

"Does that imply that if black people are underrepresented at the top universities (Grandes Ecoles) and major businesses, it's necessary to create institutions reserved solely for them?"

Belgium's new Miss reflects country's political divisions

An odd title for a piece perhaps, but there's surely a good deal of truth to it.

If France thought it had problems choosing a Miss to represent it at upcoming international beauty pageants, then surely they pale in significance when compared to those of its smaller northeastern neighbour Belgium.

Miss Belgium 2011, Justine De Jonckheere (screenshot from an interview on RTL-TVi)

The election as Miss Belgium of 18-year-old Justine De Jonckheere from the town of Wevelgem in West Flanders earlier this month seems to underline, as far as some of her competitors from the French-speaking part of country are apparently concerned, the linguistic disparities that exist among the population of almost 11 million people.

All right, so that might be putting the matter a little strongly, but for Lucie Demaret, the candidate from the French-speaking province of Hainaut, the competition was unfairly weighted towards representatives from Dutch-speaking Flanders.

And when the jury composed of, what the certainly not unbiased French language regional Belgian daily La Nouvelle Gazette pointed out to its readers, five Dutchophones and two Francophones announced the final five whose names would be put forward to a public vote, it was "obvious" to Demaret that the competition had been "fixed".

"I immediately understood their strategy," the 22-year-old, described by the paper as a "multilingual political science student with a dream figure", said.

"They simply eliminated the candidate who could overshadow Justine De Jonckheere."

That was a point of view shared by another French-speaking contestant, Lara Binet.

As Miss Liège she reportedly won the text message vote from viewers and was entitled to an automatic place in the final five.

But she too was eliminated and, according to another French language daily in Belgium, La Dernière Heure, her family has accused the organising committee of cheating.

That's a claim the president of the organising committee, Darline Devos, rejects.

She said the competition reflected "the diversity that exists within Belgium" and insists the winner was elected according to the rules.

"Nobody can 'buy' the title," she told the French-speaking Belgian website L'Avenir.

"It's not 'for sale', and I simply wish the best contestant is elected Miss Belgium."

Now this might all seem like "handbags at dawn" stuff. But there is a serious side to it as the French national daily Le Monde points out.

It is, suggests the paper, just another example of the problems Belgium is currently facing with not even a beauty contest being "immune".

In other words, as incredible as it might seem, the election of a new Miss somehow reflects the country's political divisions.

Not so far fetched perhaps given the fact that Belgium has been without an elected government since June last year and there is currently a political stalemate which the BBC (among others) puts down to growing divisions between the Dutch-speaking Flemish majority (just over six million) and the French-speaking Walloon minority (just over three million).

Justine De Jonckheere : Miss Belgique 2011 Vidéo Video-i-Buzz sélectionnée dans Actualité

Yet another Miss France

Ah the wonderful world of beauty pageants.

Just when you think everything has been said that could be on the subject, along comes another twist to the tale.

Perhaps you remember that France currently has two elected national beauty Misses; the official one known as Miss France (how original) Laury Thilleman and her rival Miss Nationale Barbara Morel.

For a detailed explanation as to how that came about you can click here.

But for the Twitterers among you who prefer bite-sized chunks;

"Organiser of Miss France contest since way back when gets uppity with company who bought rights for official competition and does her own thing."

How many characters is that?

Never mind.

Back to the breaking - er perhaps broken - news of the past couple of days.

There's yet another Miss France - the third in less than a month.

Screenshot of interview with Mathilde Florin, November 2010 - Dailymotion video

She's 21-year-old Mathilde Florin from the north of France and was a runner-up in the Miss Flandres 2009 competition, when the world of beauty pageants and tiaras seemed a much simpler affair here in France.

Florin was another elected in Paris on December 19 by le Comité Miss France historique, a committee established in 1954 and the sole body, it claims, with the right to choose a Miss who can be called Miss France.

While Florin will not be joining Thilleman in the Miss World and Universe jamborees, or Morel at...well to be honest nobody really seems to be very sure where Morel will be headed after becoming Miss Nationale...she does have a couple of international dates lined up as the new Miss France er, let's say "mark II" for the sake of clarification.

There's the heady heights of representing her country at Miss World University, which is held in the South Korean capital, Seoul, every year.

And she'll be hotfooting it along to the Philippines to take part in yet another contest, this time Miss Earth.

Reactions to the third Miss (France) to be crowned in just one month include, from the celebrity gossip site News de Stars, "Perhaps as in boxing there'll be a reunification bout so that just one woman holds all three titles."

And the comment from Cosmopolitan France that "At this rate, there'll soon be more Misses than cheeses here in France."


miss mathilde florin
envoyé par IndicateurdesFlandres. - L'info internationale vidéo.

Marion Bogaert is Miss Ronde France, 2011

Measuring just 1.70 metres and weighing 95 kilogrammes, Marion Bogaert might not be everyone's idea of a beauty queen.

But at the weekend the 19-year-old became just that, as she beat 21 other candidates to lift the title of Miss Ronde France 2011.

Proving big can be beautiful, as Marion Bogaert becomes Miss Ronde France, 2011 (screenshot from BFM TV)

"I'm very proud to be representing larger girls today," she said after scooping first place in the finals held in the northern French city of Calais.

"It's a great honour for me and I really hope to live up to the expectations that go with winning this title."

Coming just a week after the election of that more traditional beauty pageant, Miss France, and its rival Miss Nationale (a long story about which you can find out more here if you're really interested) the contest to find Miss Ronde France 2011 is more than just a title to raise a smile.

As the name suggests contestants are far from being skinny.

The competition in France started life as an online contest back in 2005 when its founder, Thierry Frézard, decided to organise a pageant slightly different from what was the accepted norm.

Frézard is a psychotherapist who has over the years seen a number of women who didn't feel at ease with the fact that they were overweight.

Marion Bogaert (screenshot from BFM TV)

Last Friday's final was the first time it had been held in front of an audience and several television channels, including BFM TV and TF1, sent along teams to report on the outcome .

Proof, as far as Frézard, was concerned, that the initial reasons for its existence - namely to give women who aren't thin a chance to show they're comfortable with their weight and don't have to conform to the dictates of fashion - were bearing fruit and public perceptions of what is acceptable might just be changing.

"The media is more and more interested in this competition," he said.

"And it's probably because as a whole there are more overweight French and people are gradually realising that there's nothing wrong or 'sick' about carrying a few extra pounds."

As the French website Rue89 says in its report of the final perhaps attitudes about what constitutes beauty are changing and the media has a role to play in that.

"Maybe one day, by dint of being publicized, the title of Miss Ronde will no longer raise a smile," it says.

"And that's certainly what we would wish future participants."

Also see

Miss Plump Univesenet 2011 and Miss Ronde blog (French)

France's tale of two Misses

Côte d'Ivoire might have two presidents at the moment but France has double trouble of a different sort.

The country has two newly-elected national beauty queens.

All right so the comparison might be more than a little inappropriate, but you could be excused for thinking that the world had been turned on it head somewhat (in France) given the amount of radio and television airtime that have been devoted to last weekend's election of Miss France and the rival Miss Nationale.

Perhaps a sign that someone was listening and watching the wrong programmes.

On Saturday more than 6.8 million viewers tuned in to TF1 to watch 19-year-old Laury Thilleman, Miss Bretagne, crowned Miss France 2011.

Miss France 2011, Laury Thilleman (screenshot from BFM TV)

After a jury headed by actor Alain Delon had, with the help of the viewing public, whittled down the 33 regional candidates to just five finalists, it was left to those at home watching to cast their votes.

And Thilleman, a keen surfer and former volleyball player (yes you can learn a lot from listening to the seemingly endless round of interviews that followed her election) who in the future apparently wants to "pursue a career in the fields of communications or audio-visual" (in other words TV - don't they all?) was the public's choice with 35 per cent of the vote.

She'll now go on to represent France at the Miss World and Miss Universe competitions.

Meanwhile on Sunday it was the turn of another 19-year-old, Barbara Morel, Miss Provence, to be crowned Miss Nationale 2011, a rival contest launched this year by the former organiser of Miss France, Geneviève de Fontenay.

Miss Nationale 2011, Barbara Morel, being interviewed on Europe 1 national radio (screenshot from Marc-Olivier Fogiel's morning show)

No mass audience for Miss Nationale as it wasn't transmitted on any of the major channels.

And even though the public had been able to choose which of the 25 regional representatives would be selected to appear among the final seven by voting online ahead of Sunday evening's decision, the choice of the eventual winner was left to a jury of seven.

Although Morel's turn to face the microphones came the day after her election, the real interest was focussed unsurprisingly on the woman who accompanied her, Geneviève de Fontenay.

She had been the doyenne of French beauty pageants for several decades and until earlier this year had been at the heart of the competition's committee.

After a very public falling out with official organisers, the Dutch TV production company Endemol, the 78-year-old set up her own rival pageant.

"We've achieved a lot," she said during an interview with Europe 1 national radio.

"There were times during the run-up to the final when I had been a little worried."

But the 78-year-old would not be drawn on the future of the competition (or its real value come to that).

"I hope there'll be another one," said the 78-year-old

"If I started, it's obvious I want to continue but sometimes in the morning you don't know what's going to happen in the evening."




Geneviève de Fontenay : "On revient de loin"
envoyé par Europe1fr. - Regardez les dernières vidéos d'actu.