Jovem e Bela

Having lived a relatively sheltered life, a young 17 year old girl, Isabelle (Marine Vacth), begins to explore her sexuality in rather a risqué fashion. We meet Isabelle on holiday on the eve of her 17th birthday. While on vacation, she meets a German boy and has an underwhelming first sexual experience. We meet her again in the Autumn to learn she is now leading a double life, moonlighting as a high class escort while still living under her mother's roof and attending school.

Of course there are some very ugly situations and in some hard to watch scenes, we see Isabelle near accepting the degrading attitude of some of her clients as if it is all her self worth, but then we also get to see her striking up a tender relationship of a different kind, with a much older man and later witness a conceited smile as she turns on her phone to a plethora of messages. Why does she do this to herself? Is it a form of self-harm or a narcissism? Is it an addiction, spurred from a desire to be loved without outwardly feeling capable of loving? Does she do it for the danger, the fear, the excitement, or is the money a factor also? Is it part due to having an estranged father? Does she enjoy it because it endows her with power over men and draws jealousy and insecurity from women? Or is she simply feeling starved of experience and hungers exploration?

All these questions are certainly posed or at least hinted at, but don't expect clear explanations or moral conclusions. No, the movie explores these themes without outrightly condemning or condoning her actions. Yes, Isabelle does draw herself into difficulty through her actions, but the discourse of this movie is not one of the obvious cause and effect we have come to know from mainstream cinema. There is no deus et machina to extricate an easy exit or satisfactory fix or lesson well learnt or crime punished. There are only the awkward moments that life throws at us in unexpected ways and uncomfortable truths that may never be satisfactorily reconciled. In other words, we are looking through a window into but a moment within this young lady's life --the passing of a year, the exploration of her sexuality-- and the fascinating aspect of this movie is that we see her live out the extraordinary in quite an ordinary way.

The French teenager Isabelle (Marine Vacth) is spending summer holiday with her middle-class family in the south of France and decides to lose her virginity with the German teenager Felix (Lucas Prisor). Then she returns to Paris with her mother Sylvie (Géraldine Pailhas), her stepfather Patrick (Frédéric Pierrot) and her younger brother Victor (Fantin Ravat).

Then Isabelle works as a call girl using the nickname Lea and meeting old men. She feels affection for her client Georges (Johan Leysen) that is married with a daughter. When Georges dies from a heart attack while having sex with Isabelle in a hotel, she flees but the police investigate and identifies her. The detectives in charge of the investigation disclose to Sylvie that is devastated. Isabelle quits prostitution, but once prostitute, forever prostitute.

"Jeune & Jolie" by François Ozon begins as a coming of age version of "Belle de Jour", where the lead character is attracted by money instead of by sexual fantasies. Even the poster recalls the one from Buñuel's masterpiece. Isabelle belongs to a middle-class family and does not have financial needs but despite of that, she is attracted by money. This is clear based on her reaction when her mother takes her money and when she explains to the police detective how she started to prostitute after receiving an offer from a stranger. Further, she is cold and seems to care only to her younger brother and Georges. When she loses her virginity with Felix, it seems to be part of her plan to explore her sexuality to make money. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Jovem e Bela" ("Young and Beautiful")

Jeune & Jolie (also known as Young & Beautiful) is the story of a 17-year old girl named Isabelle who after losing her virginity, the experience of which leaves her cold, starts living a double life as a call girl under the alias Lea, which in her opinion is a win-win situation as it allows her to explore her sexuality while being paid for it. But when one of her clients dies due to heart attack during an encounter, she leaves & quits prostitution but is later tracked down by the police who reveals Isabelle's double life to her parents.

I don't really know what to make of this film. The filmmaker's intention is not as clear as it should be nor clear is the motives of its characters plus the subplots are very fragmented & scattered all over the place. The characters are rather uninteresting & Isabelle clearly is a confused teenager who's not aware of the consequences of the path she has chosen. Yet, Marine Vacth gives her all to deliver a sensual performance that could've been much rewarding if the character was more fleshed out in the script.

Cinematography, however, exquisitely captures the beautiful location this film is shot at & the quote "once a whore, always a whore" is strongly implied but the drama remains stale as a whole. On an overall scale, Jeune & Jolie is that cinema which had the opportunity to become something truly intriguing & rewarding at the same time but apart from the plethora of sex scenes it offers from start to finish, it lacks everything a cinema needs to stimulate its audience.

A young and beautiful girl sells her body to rich older men, lying about her age, and hiding it to her parents and friends. Until an unexpected event forces her to confront reality. The new film's subject from French director François Ozon is close to Julia Leigh's 2011 "Sleeping Beauty", but the treatment is quite different. Nothing is odd or strange here. We follow Isabelle's journey through the discovery of sexuality in a very realistic fashion, typical of Ozon's filmmaking.

The only trouble is that we are not troubled ! The script is so predictable that we get very few surprises throughout the film, and we do not care for Isabelle's fate at all. That's a shame considering the interesting subject.

The lack of explanation for her behavior is a good thing, we do not get the usual psychological/environment/parents syndrome, but this leads to a certain shallowness.

Actors do a fine number, especially the beautiful Marine Vacth, whom we should see again very soon, hopefully in a more rewarding role.

The French have quite a tradition of films about prostitution. Starting of course by 'Belle de Jour', the iconic movie in which Cathérine Deneuve decides to work in a brothel out of boredom. Ten years ago, there was 'Nathalie', with Emannuelle Béart in the role of a high- class call girl who is hired to spy on a man suspected of adultery. And only two years ago, the underrated 'Elles' hit the screens, with Anaïs Demoustier as a young call girl and Juliette Binoche as a journalist writing a story about prostitution by students. These are just three examples, I'm sure there are more.

And now, 'Jeune et Jolie' (Young and Beautiful) is continuing the tradition. It tells the story of Isabelle, a quiet seventeen year old girl, who for unknown reasons starts working as a call girl. The film is divided into four chapters, one for every season. In the summer part, Isabelle loses her virginity to a German hunk during a beach holiday, just days before her seventeenth birthday. The next part is set in the autumn, and already Isabelle is working as a high heeled hooker, routinely visiting paying customers in posh Parisian hotels. The next winter everything goes wrong and her parents learn about her secret life. The last part, set in spring, shows how she is trying to pick up her old life as a student, but it's difficult to erase the past.

The good thing is that director François Ozon doesn't judge Isabelle, nor explains why she does what she does. He only suggests that she is not really happy, she seems remote, ill- tempered and emotionally vulnerable. Isabelle is not very popular or likable. The only one she really seems to connect to on an emotional level, is her younger brother Victor. In a recent interview, actress Marine Vacth suggests that Isabelle just wants to try something exciting. It might as well have been drugs.

Ozon tells the story well. Because of the four seasons concept, the story keeps on developing. He also throws in some nice cinematographic treats, like the small scene of Isabelle and her fellow students commenting in close-up about a poem by Rimbaud. The final scene consists of a surprising twist, involving some superb acting by Charlotte Rampling. Also working very well are the songs by Françoise Hardy on the soundtrack.

Apparently, 'Jeune & Jolie' has been described as 'Belle de Jour 2.0'. That is definitely exaggerated. But nevertheless, it is a fine coming-of-age film.