Meilleur espoir féminin (2000)
Directed by Gérard Jugnot

Film Review

Gérard Jugnot is one of the most familiar faces in commercial French cinema.  A one-time member of the comedy troupe Le Splendid, he came to national prominence through such popular comedies as Les Bronzés, Papy fait de la résistance and Le Père Noël est une ordure, and was soon pursuing a parallel career as a film director.  Beginning with Pinot simple flic (1984), Jugnot was able to combine his flair for comedy and humanist leanings in a series of films that have generally been well-received by the cinema-going public, less so by the critics.  Meilleur espoir féminin, his seventh feature as director, is particularly noteworthy as it features an unknown young actress who certainly lives up to the film's title, Bérénice Bejo.  In just over a decade, Bejo would become one of the most famous and highly regarded performers of her generation.

In one her first screen roles, Bejo immediately impresses as a likely future star, bringing charm and conviction to her portrayal of a daddy's girl asserting her independence in this lowkey and fairly modest comedy.  Her father is sympathetically played by Jugnot and her mother by Sabine Haudepin, who famously made her debut as a little girl in Truffaut's Jules et Jim (1962).  Not long after this, Bejo's career took off spectacularly, upping her profile in such box office hits as OSS 117 : Le Caire, nid d'espions (2006).  Then came Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist (2011), which won her the Best Actress César and an Oscar nomination.  The following year, she was further honoured with the Best Actress award at Cannes in 2013, for her astonishing performance in Asghar Farhadi's Le Passé (2013).

Sensitively scripted and played with conviction by both Jugnot and Bejo, Meilleur espoir féminin offers an authentic and quite touching portrait of the fragile relationship between an over-protective father and his rebellious adolescent daughter.  Jugnot has a tendency to over-play the sentimentality a little in his films, but here he manages to achieve an effective balance between dramatic poignancy and sublime comedy.  Admittedly, the plot is somewhat contrived and doesn't quite escape the charge of cliché, but compared with Jugnot's other directorial offerings, this one is unavoidably charming, with inspiration showing not only in the writing and acting, but also in the direction.  Once again, in the made-to-measure lead role Jugnot shows that he isn't just an amiable funny man, he is also a very skilful actor, capable of moving us with his sincere portrayals of good-natured everyman types in situations that are familiar to us all.

Film Synopsis

Yvon Rance is the proud owner of a modest hairdressing salon in the small Breton town of Cancale.  Since his wife left him some years ago, he has had to bring up his daughter Laetitia by himself and naturally he has become overly protective towards her.  His ambition is that she will one day have a salon of her own in one of the region's classier towns.  Now 17, Laetitia has her own ideas about what she wants to do with her life, and being a hairdresser is not one of them.  She has set her sights on becoming a film star and is delighted when she is offered her first role in a romantic film.  Understandably, Yvon is appalled when his daughter breaks this news to him but when he realises what it means to her he has a sudden change of heart.  He agrees to allow Laetitia to go to Paris to make her film, although he has no intention of letting her out of his sight.  His worst fears appear to be borne out when he comes into contact with his daughter's director, Stéphane Leroy.  Is Leroy sincere in making a star out of Laetitia or is he merely leading her astray...?