Director: François Ozon.
Starring: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Pailhas, Frédéric Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Charlotte Rampling.
Running Time: 95 minutes.
Certificate: 18.
Synopsis: A portrait of a 17 year-old girl through four songs and four seasons.
Isabelle (Marine Vacth) is a normal 17 year-old girl. On holiday with her mother (Géraldine Pailhas), stepfather (Frédéric Pierrot) and brother Victor (Fantin Ravat), Isabelle meets Felix (Lucas Prisor) and a short-lived summer romance ensues. As the family return home we move into autumn and learn Isabelle has become a ‘working girl’ without her family’s knowledge, and thus begin a descent into character study and emotion.
JEUNE ET JOLIE’s major strength is its ambiguity. The feelings of the main players are never especially clear which leads to an interesting dynamic, particularly between Isabelle and her mother, Sylvie. There is a serious tone to proceedings which is wonderfully permeated by Fantin Ravat’s Victor, whose comic timing is exemplary for someone so young, but it never forgets the seriousness of the situation Isabelle has found herself in. Wisely, director/writer Ozon chooses not simply to focus on the negatives of the sex-trade, instead using Isabelle as our eyes and mind to show the enjoyment she finds with certain individuals. Fortunately Ozon veers on the correct side of the right/wrong debate and never justifies Isabelle’s actions, merely quantifying them in her mind. What this also does is show the viewer how blinkered individuals can be; Isabelle has no thought or knowledge of the repercussions of her actions for her family or friends.
Director Ozon uses a few neat tricks to portray the mundanity of Isabelle’s life – long shots of walks to hotel rooms and escalator journeys – which work tremendously in portraying her professional promiscuity as a job, and a job alone. As the synopsis would suggest, music also plays a huge part in JEUNE ET JOLIE, and Philippe Rombi’s score and accompanying songs work wonderfully in setting the tone of the film’s four sections.
JEUNE ET JOLIE is an understated look at a trade with huge consequences. In using the life of a 17 year-old girl, François Ozon has given his story gravitas and heart. Full of deceit and fantastic characters, the film builds to a finale with plenty of questions left unanswered, and as a result is compelling and fantastic.
JEUNE ET JOLIE is released in UK cinemas on Friday 29th November.
