Year: 1975
Language: French
Format: 16mm Colour
Runtime: 163 min
Director: Robert Favreau
Producer: Jean-Marc Garand
Cinematographer: Pierre Letarte, Daniel Fournier
Editor: Robert Favreau
: Clorinda Warny
Sound: Raymond Marcoux
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada

One of the most powerful and original direct-cinema documentaries of the seventies – unfortunately hardly known outside Quebec – Le Soleil a pas d'chance both details and denounces the exploitation of women in beauty contests. Favreau followed the selection of the duchesses and Queen of the Quebec Winter Carnival and reveals how the women are convinced to value the dream of winning and the “personally enriching” experience of participating in order to serve the commercial interests of the tourism business. Uncompromising in its honesty (the organizers of the Carnival attempted to prevent the film’s release), this film unmasks and analyzes the illusions behind a particular form of social reality.

By: Peter Morris