Jeune & jolie (Young & Beautiful)
Dir: François Ozon
2013
**
François Ozon's Jeune & jolie is another film about prostitution in what seems like somewhat of a tradition in French cinema. Every great French director has tackled the subject, maybe it was just a matter of time and Ozon is certainly a great director. I'm not sure if he has brought anything new to the subject though. In fact, I rather think he's missed an opportunity. We see the loss of our leading ladies innocence early on in the film, quite literally, as we the young Isabelle watch her childhood walk away from her as she has sex on the beach. The isn't really built on and doesn't really need to be. We see how estranged she becomes from her family and classmates but the reason why isn't really explored, or at least, not thoroughly enough. The odd police support interview and therapy session we see adds nothing to the character or the story. Ozon touches on the modern day methods and ways children can become prostitutes but again, it never goes into much detail. You could argue that this film is really about the family's reaction on finding their daughter is a prostitute and again I'd have to say this wasn't explored to its potential. Compare it to Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour and you have a film that makes very little statement, doesn't really represent anything and makes very little point. The skeptic in me can't help but think this is more an exercise in titillation, another tradition in French cinema. The emperor's new clothes seems an apt metaphor in more ways than one.