Jeune et jolie 2013

Jeune et jolie 2013
1h 35m | Drama, Romance | Release date: August 21, 2013 (France)

Storyline:

French teenager Isabelle is spending her summer holiday with her middle-class family in the south of France and decides to lose her virginity with German teenager Felix. Then she returns to Paris with her mother Sylvie, her stepfather Patrick and her younger brother Victor. Then Isabelle works as a call girl using the nickname Lea, meeting old men. She feels affection for her client Georges 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 identify her. The detectives in charge of the investigation disclose to Sylvie, who is devastated.

User review:

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.

Director: François Ozon
Writer: François Ozon
Stars: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Pailhas, Frédéric Pierrot
Country of origin: France
Languages: French, German
Also known as: Young & Beautiful
Filming locations: Le Pradet, Var, France