Young & Beautiful

Young & Beautiful
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	François Ozon
Produced by	Éric Altmayer Nicolas Altmayer
Written by	François Ozon
Starring	Marine Vacth Charlotte Rampling Johan Leysen Géraldine Pailhas Frédéric Pierrot
Music by	Philippe Rombi
Cinematography	Pascal Marti
Edited by	Laure Gardette
Distributed by	Wild Bunch Films StudioCanal Arthaus Lionsgate Films
Release dates	16 May 2013 (2013-05-16) (Cannes) 21 August 2013 (2013-08-21) (France)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	France
Language	French

Young & Beautiful (French: Jeune & Jolie) is a 2013 French four-season drama film of adolescent sexuality directed by François Ozon and produced by Eric and Nicolas Altmayer. The film stars Marine Vacth as a wantonly photogenic unfettered girl in the leading role of Isabelle, a teenage prostitute, and features supporting performances by Charlotte Rampling, Johan Leysen, Géraldine Pailhas, and Frédéric Pierrot. The film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and received praise from the film critics.^[1][2] It was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.^[3]

Plot

Isabelle is on summer holiday with her family in the south of France. The film opens with a scene of voyeurism when Isabelle's younger brother, Victor uses binoculars from a cliff to watch his sister tanning topless on a beach. She then decides to have sex for the first time with a German boy named Felix, but the experience leaves her cold.

By autumn she is exploring her sexuality further by working as a prostitute at high-class hotels under the name Lea. Isabelle sets up a website and uses a dedicated phone to arrange encounters with clients. Among Isabelle's clients is a 63-year-old man named Georges (Johan Leysen). During her final tryst with Georges, Isabelle is satisfying him in the cowgirl position when he dies of a heart attack. Isabelle vainly tries to save him by administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR, and then she trips, injuring her forehead. She then leaves the room and quits prostitution. When police detectives investigate her client's death, they track down Isabelle and reveal her secret life to her mother, Sylvie, by informing her that her daughter is leading a double life as Lea and Isabelle. After learning that her daughter is a prostitute, Sylvie flies into a rage and repeatedly slaps Isabelle as she lies on a sofa. Sylvia then drags Isabelle to see a doctor (Serge Hefez).

After Isabelle quits prostitution she returns to living a normal teenage life. She goes to a party where she talks to a boy named Alex, who she eventually starts dating. Once they start having sex, she is once again left cold in which she ends their relationship. Her sex drive leads her back into prostitution. Georges' widow Alice (Charlotte Rampling) gets Isabelle's phone number from her deceased husband's address book, and learns that Isabelle was with him when he died. She poses as a client and arranges to meet with Isabelle in the lounge of the hotel. When they meet up, Alice tells Isabelle that she is Georges' widow. She has a very pleasant demeanor as they talk about him and return to Room 6095, where he and Isabelle had their encounters. Alice says that dying while making love is a beautiful death and asks Isabelle to lie down beside her on the bed, and begins to caress Isabelle's face. The film ends with Isabelle waking up to find that Alice has left.

Cast

• Marine Vacth as Isabelle
• Charlotte Rampling as Alice, Georges' widow
• Johan Leysen as Georges Ferriere, Isabelle's elderly client
• Frédéric Pierrot as Patrick, Isabelle's stepfather
• Géraldine Pailhas as Sylvie, Isabelle's mother
• Nathalie Richard as Véro
• Akéla Sari as Mouna
• Lucas Prisor as Felix, a German tourist
• Fantin Ravat as Victor, Isabelle's brother
• Laurent Delbecque as Alex
• Carole Franck as The Cop

Reception

François Ozon (second from left) with Fantin Ravat, Marine Vacth, and Géraldine Pailhas at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Frédéric Pierrot can be seen behind Ravat.

Upon its premiere at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Young & Beautiful received critical acclaim. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter praised Vacth's leading role and predicted that the film would "land her major exposure on the casting radar". While drawing comparisons to Ozon's 2012 film In the House Rooney wrote, "[U]nlike that playful Hitchcockian quasi-thriller, Young & Beautiful is both more carnal and more sober, suggesting the danger and fragility inherent in the central character’s experimentation while keeping the dramatic intensity subdued."^[4] Leslie Felperin of Variety noted that the film was "a nuanced, emotionally temperate study of a precocious youth" and added that "its elegant execution will win warm regard [and the] subject matter should lure audiences at art houses worldwide."^[5]

Derek Malcolm of London Evening Standard wrote that Ozon was successful in "directing the slim and striking Vacth through a series of sex scenes, and also showing how the girl doesn’t really know what she is doing even when pretty experienced in the art of seduction."^[6] While being appreciative of the film as a whole, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian noted that the film was a "luxurious fantasy of a young girl's flowering: a very French and very male fantasy, like the pilot episode of the world's classiest soap opera."^[7]

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 77% based on reviews from 35 critics.^[8]

Accolades

Music

The film tells the story of takes place over the course of a year and is divided into four segments, each separated by a song by Françoise Hardy.

References

External links

• Young & Beautiful at the Internet Movie Database
• Young & Beautiful at Rotten Tomatoes