Jeune & Jolie
Screening Dates:
Mon 30 December 8:45pm
Thu 2 January 5:00pm
Director: Francois Ozon
Starring: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Paihas, Frédéric Pierrot, Fantin Ravat
In French with English subtitles
We’re introduced to 17-year-old Isabelle (Vacth) as she cautiously removes her bikini top on the beach during a family holiday. Over the course of the ensuing year we see her transformed from a sexually curious ingénue into something altogether darker and more calculating.
Writer-director Ozon (Swimming Pool, Potiche) leaves us tantalisingly uncertain of her motives: she is possibly encouraged by the coming-of-age fantasies of her younger brother (Ravat), but she is also blessed with the love of her affluent parents (Géraldine Pailhas, Frédéric Pierrot). Nonetheless, our empathy with her builds throughout this beguilingly scripted and filmed work, in which the complexities of character are not limited to Isabelle herself.
The performances – especially by Vacth, who exhibits traces of young Ozon favourite Catherine Deneuve – are pitch-perfect, and wistful songs from Françoise Hardy conclude each seasonally determined episode.
Critic: Owen Gleiberman
Date: 2013-09-14
Publication: Entertainment Weekly
Quote: He has made a movie that the Louis Malle of Lacombe, Lucien, or the Truffaut of The 400 Blows, would have appreciated, an explicit look at how our humanity gets lost.
Critic: Leslie Felperin
Date: 2013-09-14
Publication: Variety
Quote: A nuanced, emotionally temperate study of a precocious youth.
Critic: David Rooney
Date: 2013-09-14
Publication: Hollywood Reporter
Quote: A fascinating contemplation of adolescent sexuality that will be a star-making platform for its young lead, Marine Vacth.
Critic: Dave Calhoun
Date: 2013-09-14
Publication: Time Out
Quote: It's to Ozon's credit that he never serves up easy answers, and even after ample scenes of sex and showdowns with those closest to Isabelle, and even a scene with a psychologist, we're none the wiser as to what's driving her.
Critic: Jon Frosch
Date: 2013-05-28
Publication: The Atlantic
Quote: A tender, slyly funny and splendidly shot portrait of an adolescent prostitute that is easily the director's best work since "Swimming Pool".
Critic: Jordan Hoffman
Date: 2013-05-24
Publication: Film.com
Quote: A movie that bluntly shows a 17-year old girl exploding sex all over the screen.
Critic: Keith Uhlich
Date: 2013-05-23
Publication: Time Out New York
Quote: As with many films by the prolific Ozon, there's an ephemeral quality to Young & Beautiful that makes it seem as if it's evaporating as you watch it.
Critic: Mary Corliss
Date: 2013-05-22
Publication: TIME Magazine
Quote: Vacth has a seductive, covert intelligence. She may not let viewers in on Isabelle's motives, but she does suggest that something is going on. Audiences should be pleased to go with her, not knowing the destination but happy to take the trip.
Critic: Stephanie Zacharek
Date: 2013-05-17
Publication: Village Voice
Quote: The picture is reasonably compelling, particularly in the way Ozon outlines the tender relationship between Isabelle and one of her much older clients.
