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Beauty is the only thing that can save a small town where pretty women are in short supply in this comedy from French director Patrice Leconte. Charmoussey is a dingy back-alley of a small town located next door to Upper Charmoussey, which is home to an upscale ski resort. Upper Charmoussey is doing so well that the owners of the resort are considering buying their shabby neighbor lock, stock and barrel and expanding their business into the territory. But the citizens of Charmoussey take a curious pride in their hometown, and they think their best bet at survival would be to field a winning contestant in an upcoming beauty pageant. Unfortunately, Charmoussey's contestants have finished out of the money in the contest for more than twenty years in a row, so they decide they need the help of a show biz professional to groom their crop of hopefuls. Enter Franck Chevrel (Benoit Poelvoorde), a former local boy who has come home for a visit; Franck has appeared in a few big time movies and television shows, and even if he was just an extra without lines, that still makes him more of a star than anyone else in town. Franck isn't sure he has the skills to help the local gals win a beauty pageant, but when he learns it would allow him to spend time with a girl he used to love (Olivia Bonamy), he decides to give it a try. La guerre des miss (aka Beauties At War) received its North American premiere at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival.