At Montignies-on-Sambre, a small village in the Belgian so called « black country », where the coal mining industry vanished 20 years ago, Sandrine -a nineteen-year-old girl- sells cheese at the local supermarket and does manicures in the evenings. She has had a dream for a long time: to open her own beauty salon. Anna, her mother is very supportive: she wants Sandrine to succeed where her own life has failed. One day on the radio, they hear an ad for the local beauty contest. Pushed by her mother – this is the opportunity to become locally famous and get a bank loan for the salon- she enters the competition. Because she lied about her bust measurements, Sandrine is disqualified from the contest. She decides to hide the news from her mother. When Sandrine is about to leave Montigny to get back with Paolo, her boyfriend living in Brussels, her mother finds out that her husband, Sandrine’s father, is having an affair and that Sandrine has been disqualified. This is too much for Anna. She tries to commit suicide. Sandrine can’t stand to see Anna suffer, so she makes up her mind: She won’t disappoint her mother and she will win the contest no matter what it takes…

2005 :

Festival du Film Romantique de Cabourg - France

Festival des Films du Monde - Montréal - Canada

Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur - Belgique