The Miss France competition considers itself so unsinkable that it allows itself the audacity to begin its 93rd edition, broadcast live from Châteauroux on Saturday, from 9:10 p.m., on TF1, with a table devoted to titanic. Superstitions? The Riverdance troupe will be there to trample them. Diane Leyre will appear on stage alongside those who hope to succeed her for the year 2023: this is the first time that a reigning Miss will open the show. Risk-taking will be measured, out of the question of putting the event in danger, like an “iceberg, straight ahead!” »
“We never revolutionize Miss France, we make improvements by touches”, advances to 20 minutes, artistic producer Frédéric Gilbert. “The theme of cinema, which we have chosen for this edition, offers us an interesting playing field, in line with what we started to do last year: move the lines towards the spectacular rather than the fashion show at Victoria’s Secret. We’re going to spin the story from beginning to end, I would compare it to the Enfoirés show. »
“Developments that correspond with society”
Prepare the popcorn, the celebrated works have been drawn from the general public section. One of the paintings will be devoted to the saga Harry Potter. One of the thirty Misses in the running, drawn by lot, will have the right to ride her broomstick. The lucky one! During the sequence avengers, which will see the candidates move as superheroines, another, also drawn by lot, will stand out as Black Widow descending from the ceiling by parachute. A parade will pay tribute to the award ceremonies, with American-style voiceover. The swimsuit parade will remain. “But we can’t really talk about two-pieces anymore, so many additional costume elements are there,” underlines Frédéric Gilbert. I think today, bikinis are a little off topic at Miss France. »
Would the production begin to think the same thing as the feminists who vilify the election, seeing in it an objectification of women and a symptom of patriarchal domination? Alexia Laroche-Joubert, president of the Miss France Society for a year, cringes. “No, we adapt. I have convictions, which I defend and which I apply because I have the power to do so. I don’t give a damn about giving pledges to anyone. Neo-feminists are not in the majority, they are small groups who consider that it is their morality that must triumph, we are not far from a form of dictatorship. “And to insist:” That we proceed to developments that correspond to society, that yes, and I am very sensitive to it. »
From now on, all persons with female civil status – therefore including trans women – can apply. If they must always measure more than 1m70, they are no longer subject to an age limit – hitherto fixed at 25 years. In the promotion that will be on stage on Saturday, three (Miss Lorraine, Miss New Caledonia and Miss Picardy) have already celebrated their 26th birthday. Two others, Miss Languedoc and Miss Nord-Pas-de-Calais, tattooed, will also defend their luck, which would have been forbidden to them last year. On the other hand, if married women and mothers obtained the right to apply, none managed to continue the adventure as far as Châteauroux.
Remember that these new provisions did not suit Sylvie Tellier who will co-host the competition for the last time with Jean-Pierre Foucault and who will leave her place, at the end of the program, to Cindy Fabre, ratifying the entry of the Miss France brand into a new era.
“Let the Misses speak with their own words”
“The program needs to evolve. With Alexia, we like to modernize with small touches,” continues Frédéric Gilbert. A greater place will be left to spontaneity to “let the personality of each express itself”, promises the production. This is the end of rigid formulations such as “I am currently pursuing studies of… with a view to destining myself to…”
“In the premium portraits, with the editor-in-chief, we changed the way of speaking with the candidates. We said to ourselves that they had to be as natural as possible, that they speak with their own words and that we don’t have the impression that they are reciting, affirms the artistic producer. We worked in this direction: how to make them feel comfortable in front of the camera so that they can talk about themselves? It’s more work than asking them what they would like to say and having them chew the work, here we did something that is closer to an interview. »
“Less smooth and glossy than before”
We can already see an evolution in the videos posted on the TF1 site. The candidates film themselves with their smartphones to show behind the scenes of the filming of their portraits. They use a more colloquial language there. “We are less smooth and glossy than before, because society is changing and these young girls reflect it,” concludes Frédéric Gilbert.
Will the argument convince Dare feminism! ? The association, which believes that the new regulations are “just a coat of white paint on a moldy wall”, according to the words of spokesperson Fabienne El Khoury reported by AFP, initiated a procedure several months ago against the “discriminatory criteria” of the Miss France contest. The Bobigny industrial tribunal will make its decision on January 6, well after the end of the Miss France 2023 election.