Jeune & Jolie (18.)
Directed by Francois Ozon.
Starring Marine Vacth, Geraldine Pailhas, Frederic Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Johan Leysen and Charlotte Rampling. French with subtitles. 95 mins
The current, Blue is The Warmest Colour-inspired craze for films about sexually active young French girls, is likely to be fleeting so the release of the latest film by Ozon is well timed to catch audiences before the appetite for long, graphic Gallic sex scenes tails off. Even the decision to leave the title untranslated seems designed to catch out mono-linguists expecting to see the sordid lesbian antics of Jean and Julie.
The Young and Beautiful Isabelle (Vacth) is normal-seeming 17 year old from an affluent Parisian family who loses her virginity to a young German lad during a summer beach holiday in the south and by the autumn is turning tricks for older men she meets over the internet in various plush hotel rooms and car parks.
Why would a girl from a good home do such a thing? Well, no one here is about to give you an answer. In the title role Marine Vacth remains poker faced throughout and Ozon’s script isn’t giving much away. The film is slickly put together and well performed, with a light coating of frosty detachment. It gives you the works but afterwards it may leave you feeling a little empty and unsatisfied.
Directed by Francois Ozon.
Starring Marine Vacth, Geraldine Pailhas, Frederic Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Johan Leysen and Charlotte Rampling. French with subtitles. 95 mins
The current, Blue is The Warmest Colour-inspired craze for films about sexually active young French girls, is likely to be fleeting so the release of the latest film by Ozon is well timed to catch audiences before the appetite for long, graphic Gallic sex scenes tails off. Even the decision to leave the title untranslated seems designed to catch out mono-linguists expecting to see the sordid lesbian antics of Jean and Julie.
The Young and Beautiful Isabelle (Vacth) is normal-seeming 17 year old from an affluent Parisian family who loses her virginity to a young German lad during a summer beach holiday in the south and by the autumn is turning tricks for older men she meets over the internet in various plush hotel rooms and car parks.
Why would a girl from a good home do such a thing? Well, no one here is about to give you an answer. In the title role Marine Vacth remains poker faced throughout and Ozon’s script isn’t giving much away. The film is slickly put together and well performed, with a light coating of frosty detachment. It gives you the works but afterwards it may leave you feeling a little empty and unsatisfied.
