Esse filme nos causa uma série de reflexões, lembra-me muito a autenticidade de Bruna Surfistinha, o olhas feminino sobre sexo, prazer, poder, independência... Vejo meninas, sexualmente ativas e estimuladas, desejando o "proibido", e se satisfazendo, não somente pelo dinheiro, incompreensível para a maioria de nós, mas imagino que um íntimo conturbado entre prazer consciente e a moral do culturalmente aceito, recatada e do lar… Um filme questionador...

While spending the summer with her family in the south of France, 17-year-old Isabelle (Marine Vacht) loses her virginity to a short-term romantic interest. Jumping ahead a few months, it is revealed that Isabelle is now a high-priced call-girl working under the pseudonym Lea, all while maintaining her studies and keeping the secret from her family. Francois Ozon's Young and Beautiful is a surprisingly tender, if not unorthodox, coming-of-age tale, featuring a strong performance from Vacht and some excellent production values. If there is one complaint it would be the fact that Ozon seems to avoid any explanation concerning the psychology or motivation behind what would cause a young girl to swing so radically from losing her virginity to prostitution, leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions.

Aesthetically very pleasing, very sensual and poetically visualised movie, however the plot doesn't seem to go anywhere. It's very hard to understand the main character, but maybe the movie is about the inexplicable desire she has, maybe that's the point, the beauty and the poetry this story is trying to tell us about.

Joven y bonita [2014]

With this one Ozon was too in love with his own subject, although I might be biased.

A shallow story full of harmless stereotypes and boring characters presented as otherwise superbly crafted film.

I'm no expert, but I can't imagine prostitution is as safe as this movie depicts it to be. Regardless, this is an enjoyable, run-of-the-mill coming of age story that manages to entertain without providing any insight on the motives or emotions of the main characters.

I'm growing paranoid as to how much this film will reflect Dawn. The film starts off in the summer, where she loses her virginity on a beach... Sounds familiar. There's a ghost of sorts, except it's her consciousness spreading to across the way, watching down at the act she's involved in. She judges it distastefully, and the look on the face of her in the act is almost sad. She derived more pleasure in her room rubbing against her pillow. The real thing is not the experience she wanted because Felix - framed perfectly so that he is dominant over her, capturing the ugliness of his oh-face - is doing nothing to please her, just sticking it in and getting a quick one out of her. I love when we see the ghost's POV tilt from his back to his thrusting buttocks - there's always something funny and unattractive about a man's ass, especially when he's fucking. I think of this effect in Knocked Up after they've awoken from their night of "passion," just seeing Rogen's ass is hilarious, this exposed male figure who leeches onto whatever he can get so his nut can bust; now he lies there piggish. Now the film moves to Fall. Each situation is more sexually unappealing than the last. You have to start to wonder, is it really all this bad? There are women who love this kind of work. There are men who are supposedly charming and fun when they do this. So it is us asking the question, will any of this get better? But furthermore we're asking: why is she doing this? She's not a nymph getting pleasure. Her family seems well off, she has a good home life. She doesn't seem eager to buy anything in particular. It's a great mystery at this point, and I'm intrigued. It's at this crucial point we're asking at least the first question that the film changes. She sees the first old man, who she fucked passionless, at the theater with her parents. Her mother seems to be having an affair with a family friend, Peter - she's caught being tender with him outside the theater. Is this a genetic thing? Is her mom slutty? Does she do this to get back at her? She gets a text from the old man asking to meet her again before curtain goes down for next act, and a mysterious smile comes over her face. He becomes her next fuck, except this time she seems to be enjoying his cunnilingus. We follow this with a montage where she appears to be more comfortable in her role, taking pleasure in the acts, but also counting money between. Money is still the ultimate goal, but what for? 40 min Or maybe this has something to do with her father? Just reminded when the old man asks about him that she revealed she's with her step father at the theater. 43 min. Hot mom, gone dad, step father thinks she's hot, brother has keen interest in her sexuality as she has in his. It never becomes outright incestual. 54 min I'm realizing a lot this has to do with men's misappropriation of sex with women, a good lesson for me and anyone. After stepfather and mom talk about Isabelle's situation, in which he calls her hot, he wants to have sex. Think she's in the mood? Bad timing, bad taste. Especially after that Freudian slip about Isabelle, which set mom off. The title even implies this, Young and Beautiful, a perspective we all carry about sexual desire, attraction, usefulness. A little more than an hour in and my suspicion is confirmed. Now it appears as though she's found someone real, her own age. In Spring we see him over having sex in her room before breakfast. He loses his mojo, but she uses a technique to get it back up for him. She does for him, but he doesn't reciprocate, rather uses the opportunity to get off, leaving her unsatisfied. Next we find him anxiously heading to the breakfast table to join the family, he wants to eat (I know that feeling). She is in the shower - dun dun dun! I think the old her is awakened. On her way to the table, mom asks "are you COMING? We saved a croissant!" Coming, croissant (see shape) - no accidents here. She did not just cum, and it looks like her new boyfriend is gonna pay for it, and perhaps all hope for men in general. Love how everything unfolds. Symbolism and device of shower, washing sin, filth and germs literally (she doesn't want to wear them) - returns with last boyfriend, who we thought might be the one to teach her to love. How she grows riskier, more dangerous, flirting with stepdad, who is tempted but caught by wife. She wants to be a thorn to her mother, who has reduced her to a babysitting job that pays a mere 60 euros, 10 an hour - she was making 300 in an hour before. The stigma surrounding her; the wife won't let Peter drive her home because she thinks Isabelle may try tempting him. The fact that she kills the Old Man, the one she'd actually been developing feelings for, is a bold stroke. An even bolder one is to have her final paid encounter with his widowed wife. She's now about to go back into the life after her last boyfriend has failed to please her, she might as well make money if this is how it's going to be. We can empathize with this, especially women who aren't sexually satisfied by their partners. It teeters with the idea that maybe it takes an older, experienced women to really teach her pleasure. But it does not go there. Instead it leaves us with an ending that I think is a little contrived and definitely confusing. I admit I don't understand it. It's one of these 'wtf happened?' moments - did she get drugged and the lady took off? Did she go back to that spot, fall asleep and dream this? Was it all a dream?! Certainly not the last I hope, but movies with these endings can have that effect on the viewer, and I don't think it should ever feel like that. There's no reason not to be clear. I don't think it does anything to answer our more dire questions from the onset: why is she like this? Why is she doing this? Is it just easy money? What's the deeper motive? It seems like she learned something by meeting the Old Man's wife, but what was changing inside of her from this? Any young girl should be able to look deep into an old lady and reflect on herself, I get that. But it didn't seem accomplished here. We get the feeling at first that her psychologist will be her next target. He fits the attributes: older, wealthy, intellect. But we only see him briefly, he appears to be doing his job, forcing her to ask questions about what she's doing. When we come back to him during a session for the first time, the camera scans him foot to toe. We get a sense his power through his sleek, well fit clothes. Will he fall like the others? Can no man be trusted? He ends up being one person who gives a sense of trust, he's clean. But there's a hint of suspense there that I appreciate. I wish we explored more with this, that she made an attempt to get him to pay for her. Instead it's established upfront that she'll be the one paying, $70 a session, using her own session money. Using the session money she's earned from the damage she's done to herself to pay for a session to help this damage, tables perfectly turned, how ironic.

"Jeune & Jolie" seemed set to raise questions such as sexual exploration, prostitution, or slut-shaming, but it seems that Ozon didn't have an agenda. What we're left with is a coming-of-age that, although thought-provoking, well-performed, and beautiful to behold, goes disappointingly unexplored and lacks a satisfying narrative structure.

Le cinéma de François Ozon est toujours un peu inégal. On a parfois l'impression d'être un peu loin des émotions... On se fait raconter une histoire sans trop se sentir concerné. Jeune et Jolie est encore un de ces films. Le potentiel est immense alors que le résultat est correct.

A person is often isolated and adrift beneath a mask of stability and security, and even beauty. Isabelle is one among them. Tied to relatives and friends that, while capable and friendly, offer little in the way of excitement, she longs to feel alive somehow. For thrills she turns to selling her body on the internet. "Easy money is a downward spiral" she is told. "Blah, blah, blah" is her response, and she seems committed enough to continue in this underworld. This insightful, honest and nonjudgmental film does not take you in directions you expect it to go in. It leaves questions open and raw. It dares, thankfully, to take you to places that mainstream films do not, and it does so in compelling ways.

cinegeek.de Verstörend, aber irgendwie auch ein Genuss ist die Tatsache, dass sich Regisseur Francois Ozon nicht damit aufhält, nach Erklärungen oder etwaigen Hintergründen zu suchen. Isabelle (Marine Vacth) ist eine aussergewöhnliche Schülerin. Die Tochter aus gutem Hause koordiniert in der Pause ihre Treffen in verschiedenen Hotelzimmern. Dort verkauft die 17jährige ihren Körper für 300 Euro. Ozon zitiert Rimbaud, mit 17 sei man noch nicht ernst zu nehmen. Das klingt nach Sinnsuche, jedoch ist Isabelle keine Sinnsucherin! Isabelle handelt nicht aus Geldnot und will auch nicht provozieren. Sie bietet allen die Stirn, den Eltern, einem Psychologen und einem verliebten Klassenkameraden. Statt einer Auflösung bietet uns Ozon zum Schluss Charlotte Rampling und wir dürfen in ihrem Gesicht lesen, um womöglich so etwas wie eine Botschaft zu bekommen. Was war das nun? Ein echtes Anliegen? Eine Stilübung? Formal ist Jeune & Jolie elegant strukturiert in vier Kapitel, die jeweils von einem Francoise Hardy Song eingeleitet werden. In weniger fähigen Händen wäre der Film sicher zum Melodram verkommen. So beobachten wir einfach: Isabelle allein in einem Hotelzimmer (mit den ekligen Typen, die für Dienstleistungen bezahlen) oder in einem dunklen Korridor. Immerhin haben wir oft Angst um das Mädchen und erfahren so, wie es ist, jung und schön zu sein... (Dazu haben wir eine Film List mit Lolitas zusammengestellt auf der Empfehlungs-Seite unserer Videothek cinegeek.de

Ozon lijkt wat uitgeteld. Zelfde recept als altijd. Een mooi meisje dat af en toe naakt in beeld wordt gebracht en een flinterdun verhaal. Voor de liefhebber van jonge tietjes. Omdat het Ozon is, een half sterretje bij.

probably the biggest surprise movie I can remember in a long time. such an emotional journey. It reminds me a lot of American Beauty with the kind of feel it gives off. It is in French which made it alittle hard to follow but its a beautiful movie yet heart breaking at the same time. It does have a ending that makes you smile and sigh at the end time. it is unforgettable

This movie was interesting, but it lacked an explanation for Isabelle's actions. I suppose there are people who do things just because they can, but it made for a bizarre film. Not sure it is really worth seeing.

Enjoyable art house movie From France!

Some people born as a whore.

My first time watching a François Ozon film and I fell in love with the way he told the story. The story may be frustrating to watch, but it is done with tenderness and a sense of melancholy. It is a fairly accurate (I assume) depiction of adolescence and sexual awakening, and Marine Vacth gives a terrific star-making performance as Isabelle. Young & Beautiful is a well-done coming-of-age tale that poses intriguing questions. I really liked it.

Not bad, but it wasn't really all that interesting.

Exploring from different visions how youth is nowadays, this movie offers a satisfying and entertaining story full of secrets.