Jeune et jolie (a.k.a Young & Beautiful), 2013.
Written and Directed by François Ozon.
Starring Marine Vacth, Geraldine Pailhas, Frederic Pierrot, Johan Leysen, Laurent Delbecque, Fantin Ravat, Johan Leysen and Géraldine Pailhas.
SYNOPSIS:
A year in the life of a teenage girl, from season to season.
Francois Ozon’s latest venture opens with the audience as voyeur. Peering through a pair of binoculars along with the young Victor (Fantin Ravat), we join this petit peeping Tom as his gaze lingers on a beautiful girl on the beach below. However, we soon discover that this is Isabelle (Marine Vacth), Victor’s older sister, and his gaze, whilst not exactly innocent, is merely the curious one of a pre-pubescent boy. These two golden children are holidaying in the south of France, with mum (Geraldine Pailhas), stepdad (Frederic Pierrot) and another family, Vero, Peter and their three kids. After lunch it’s time for the house to take its afternoon nap. Victor takes us along to spy on all the occupants purportedly sleeping. His parents snooze, the other couple are shushing their baby, whilst Isabelle is masturbating. Without the distancing element of the eye glasses, here we feel much more culpable as we watch Isabelle wrapped up in her intimacy. It is a mere taster of things to come.
Whilst on holiday, Isabelle and her brother have decided that it is high time she lost her virginity and the handsome, Teutonic Felix is deemed the man to do the job. In one of the most interesting scenes, Isabelle is lying on the sand, Felix pumping away on top of her, his efforts far less satisfactory than her own self-pleasure. As Felix climaxes, Isabelle turns away from him and sees herself staring down at the scene. Once the act is over, the figure of Isabelle disappears.
And this is perhaps what the film is about: Isabelle’s search for her disappeared self. Where she seeks it is in her sexuality. Back at school, Isabelle assumes the name Lea and embarks on prostitution, setting up a web page and organising clients’ appointments via sms. Yet there is no indication as to why she has chosen this path: she counts the money and covets it, but she doesn’t need it and neither does she spend it. Like her constant showering, this is one more action that forms her apparent addiction.
One client, Georges (Johan Leysen), meets Isabelle regularly and he is attracted by her “melancholic eyes”. This melancholy is what makes Isabelle attractive and what sets her apart from her contemporaries, with whom she has little in common. Yet after a tragic turn of events and her parents’ discovery of her secret, Isabelle strives to reconnect to her teenage existence.
One of the major problems with the film is our voyeuristic involvement in the frequent sex scenes involving Isabelle. Ozon, who also wrote the script, gives us little help in understanding Isabelle’s trajectory from bored, spoilt teenager, to savvy, uber-professional prostitute. If she is not being exploited, is that then OK for this 17-year-old to do what she does? Vacth’s portrayal is laudable but her character’s inscrutability leaves us with many unanswered questions. The parents’ reaction to the horrifying discovery is also implausible: the stepdad sees it as a sort of sexual exploration and the mum suggests a shopping spree to London. The most real relationship lies between Isabelle and her brother: small glimmers of reality in an otherwise confusing and ultimately worrying tale.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★
Jo Ann Titmarsh
Originally published May 16, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
