Miss Impossible (Jamais Contente) is like if We Are The Best! were just about the spunky, outspoken Klara and she joined a band in which she was the only girl.
In Emilie Deleuze’s Miss Impossible (Jamais Contente), Aurore (Léna Magnien) may be repeating grade seven at age 13, but she’s very smart, headstrong, witty, and opinionated. Her lack of studious diligence seems to be because she isn’t intellectually challenged at school: in one sequence, her teachers from multiple classes walk the aisles on either side of her, reciting facts as Aurore, bored, attempts to scribble them down quickly enough.
Things start to look up when a new English teacher arrives who encourages Aurore’s creativity. When she fails to provide any literary analysis in one of her papers, he still gives her a good grade because her spelling and grammar is impeccable and she made him laugh. He pushes her to read and explore, reinforcing that she’s clever and worth supporting, which gives her the kind of motivation she needs.
Meanwhile, she finds herself invited to join an all-male band in search of a lead singer — the perfect opportunity for a young woman looking for romance. When her grandmother suggests she might need a few lovers to find the right one, she sets to work. Each new prospective love interest gets a number, and she moves on with ease if they prove unworthy — or gay. The boys in the band are welcoming and playful, but occasionally sexism rears its ugly head — and she hightails it away until they come to their senses.
Miss Impossible is like if We Are The Best! were just about the spunky, outspoken Klara and she joined a band in which she was the only girl. Told entirely from Aurore’s perspective, Miss Impossible feature plenty of clever voice over in which Aurore passes judgement on the adult world and the casual injustices of adolescence. She may be cynical, but her humour keeps her buoyant, loveable, and entirely relatable. She often had me laughing and her company is delightful.
Miss Impossible has its North American Premiere in the TIFF Kids section of the Toronto International Film Festival. It screens Sat. Sept. 10 at 12:45 p.m. (Scotiabank) and Sat. Sept. 17 at 12:45 p.m. (Scotiabank). The film will be distributed by A-Z Films in Canada but is still seeking a U.S. distributor.
