La plus belle pour aller danser (2023)

Marie-Luce Bison (Brune Moulin) is a shy, reserved teenager who is deeply lonely. She cannot fit in at her new high school and struggles to get her classmates’ attention. Her situation is made even harder by the fact that her father, Vincent (Philippe Katerine), has barely looked after her since Marie-Luce’s mother died, as he is absorbed in running a boarding house where the girl also lives. Marie-Luce’s only real support is Albert (Pierre Richard), an octogenarian who also lives at the boarding house. Having fallen for Émile (Loup Pinard), who is also new at the school, Marie-Luce does everything she can to attract his attention. On Albert’s advice, she sneaks into a party organized by Chloé (Iris Guillemin), a classmate, dressed as Vito Corleone from The Godfather. Because of her costume, however, the other guests take Marie-Luce for a boy. Having succeeded in attracting Émile’s attention, Marie-Luce decides to play along and pretends her name is Léo. She also earns her classmates’ admiration by saving Émile from choking after he swallows a piece of cake the wrong way. Still disguised as Léo, Marie-Luce grows closer to Émile by spending time with him at the fair. She tries to find out who Émile is attracted to, but the end of the day brings a major surprise: Émile is gay and has fallen in love with Léo, unaware of the deception Marie-Luce has set up, and kisses him. Although overjoyed at finally having kissed Émile, Marie-Luce knows that she has deceived him. Émile is also the grandson of one of the boarding-house residents, and one day he runs into Marie-Luce there in her usual feminine appearance; naturally, he does not show her the same closeness he does with Léo. Marie-Luce, once again in disguise, goes to the fair with Émile again, this time accompanied by three classmates: Chloé, who has a crush on Léo; her boyfriend Hugo (Samy Belkessa); and Manon (Kamelia Isli-Antunes), who is attracted to Émile. Unhappy about what he believes is a growing closeness between Chloé and Léo, Émile abruptly leaves the group. Marie-Luce follows him but, despite Albert’s advice, cannot bring herself to tell him the truth, and passionately kisses him again while pretending to be Léo. The two teenagers are seen by Vincent, who also knows nothing about his daughter’s schemes. When Marie-Luce confesses that she dressed as a boy to get closer to Émile, Vincent takes her to see a child psychiatrist (Alice Belaïdi). The doctor does not react as Vincent expected: she points out that Marie-Luce’s behavior probably stems from the way she was brought up, especially the fact that Vincent spends very little time with her and never talks about his late wife. Back at the boarding house, Marie-Luce says some very harsh things to her father, even telling him that he should have died instead of her mother. Marie-Luce puts on Léo’s disguise once more before joining Émile, Chloé, Hugo, and Manon. During a game of Truth or Dare, she suddenly gets cramps and runs off, rummaging through Chloé’s bag to find a sanitary pad. Chloé catches her and, thinking Léo wanted to be alone with her, kisses her. Émile arrives just then and, furious to see Léo behaving this way and apparently ashamed of his homosexuality, comes out himself by kissing Léo. Hugo’s hurtful remarks then spark a fight, during which Marie-Luce loses her wig, exposing her deception for all to see. Outraged, Émile leaves, ignoring Marie-Luce’s attempts to apologize and declaring that he does not love her at all. Devastated, Marie-Luce wanders through the forest until nightfall, ignoring her worried father’s calls, while he is finally ready to talk to her about her mother. When Vincent learns from Albert that Marie-Luce was supposed to meet Émile, he goes to Émile’s home. Vincent and Émile then return to the forest, where they find Marie-Luce unconscious beside the river. She had considered throwing herself into the water and killing herself, but changed her mind; she nevertheless slipped on a rock and fell in. Marie-Luce is taken back to the boarding house, where her injuries are treated. Meanwhile, Chloé and Manon talk about how much they admire Marie-Luce and what she was willing to do for love. A month later, Marie-Luce has fully recovered and is ready to return to high school. Determined to open up to others without using a disguise, she changes her appearance: she cuts her hair and wears more feminine clothes, including some borrowed from her mother’s wardrobe. In her father’s car on the way to school, she is delighted when Vincent finally brings up his late wife, and she asks him many questions about her. At school, a radiant Marie-Luce makes her return, drawing many kind glances, especially from Chloé (now dating a girl after the kiss she stole from Marie-Luce/Léo) and Manon. She has also fully reconciled with Émile: now friends without pretending to be someone else, they spend a lot of time together at the boarding house—much to Vincent’s confusion, as he struggles to understand whether they are a couple or not—and jokingly wonder, for instance, which of them Jean-Jacques’s grandson, another resident of the boarding house, is attracted to.