Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Jeune & Jolie Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 20, 2014

Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Francois Ozon's "Jeune & jolie" a.k.a. "Young & Beautiful" (2013) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films UK. The supplemental features on the disc include video interviews with the French director and actress Marine Vacth. In French, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"It was like a game..."

While vacationing with her family in the south of France, seventeen-year-old Isabelle (Marine Vacth, The Man with the Golden Brain) has her first sexual experience with a German boy (Lucas Prisor, Diplomatie). She is underwhelmed -- the long anticipation proves to be a lot more exciting than the physical act of making love.

Back home in Paris, Isabelle begins experimenting with older men. She arranges her dates on the Internet and then meets the men in upscale hotels. Initially she is nervous and at times even intimidated when the strangers ask her to take off her clothes, but the uncertainty that comes with each new date brings back the same type of excitement she experienced while she was still a virgin. The fact that the strangers would always pay for the date quickly solidifies Isabelle’s conviction that this is a game worth playing.

At home no one realizes that when Isabelle goes out to study she is in fact meeting her clients. Occasionally her mother, Sylvie (Geraldine Pailhas, Don Juan DeMarco), asks the routine questions mothers are supposed to ask, but she is too busy with her career to notice that her daughter is leading a double life. Isabelle’s stepfather, Patrick (Fredéric Pierrot, I've Loved You So Long), is too shy to be the respectable figure in the family he should be and has transferred all of his duties to Sylvie. Only Isabelle’s younger brother is aware that she has become sexually active, but he prefers to observe her and then explore the darker corners of the Internet rather than discuss with their parents what they have not been able to see.

Eventually, Isabelle befriends one of her wealthy clients, Georges (Johan Leysen, Train of Life), who also leads a double life. They begin meeting regularly and even share some of their most intimate secrets. But when their relationship becomes too intense, Isabelle realizes that the game she has been playing could irreversibly alter her life.

Written and directed by Francois Ozon, Jeune & jolie a.k.a. Young & Beautiful is a fascinating character study that could have been conceived only in France. On this side of the Atlantic, a project with a similarly relaxed attitude towards teenage sexuality would have been killed off before anyone would have even bothered to read Ozon’s script in its entirety.

The film feels like a contemporary replica of the classic Belle de jour. Instead of meeting her clients in a posh apartment, Isabelle directs them to expensive hotels where she gets a dose of the same excitement Catherine Denueve’s character seeks in Luis Bunuel’s film. Of course, she is a lot younger and living in a time when her fantasies can be quickly visualized with just a couple of mouse clicks.

The film is broken into four seasons. After each season it becomes clearer that Ozon isn’t interested in the mechanics of sex, but in the various aspects that would make someone as young as Isabelle addicted to it. Unsurprisingly, the lovemaking sequences are short and restrained.

During the second half a whiff of melodrama sneaks in when Isabelle’s mother is approached by the police, but Ozon does not allow the family discussions that follow to change the tone of the film. The finale, featuring a wonderful cameo by Charlotte Rampling, is very convincing.

Vacth is entirely believable as the free-spirited Isabelle, who quickly becomes bored with her friends at school and the predictable games they play. Leysen is excellent as the wealthy married man who seeks the same type of excitement Isabelle does. Pailhas and Pierrot do a decent job as the modern parents who frequently do not know how to control their emotions.

Jeune & Jolie Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Francois Ozon's Jeune & jolie arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Liongsgate Films UK.

The film looks beautiful in high-definition. The daylight sequences are vibrant and often looking remarkably sharp (not digitally sharpened), while the nighttime footage boasts wonderful depth and fluidity. The numerous close-ups impress with exceptional clarity (see screencaptures # 1 and 2). There is a wide range of remarkably well saturated colors that are carefully used to change the film's tone and atmosphere as the action moves from one location to another. Also, there are different prominent colors for each chapter/season. There are no compression or encoding anomalies to report in this review. When projected, the film remains tight around the edges and pleasingly crisp. Finally, there are absolutely no stability issues whatsoever. To sum it all up, this is a terrific presentation of Jeune & Jolie which is guaranteed to please its fans as well as viewers who are going to experience the film for the first time on Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Jeune & Jolie Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 For the record, Lionsgate Films UK have provided optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

Dynamic intensity is limited, but this is a film in which music is carefully used to enhance important sequences. Thankfully, the lossless 5.1 track allows the music to shine in all the right places -- the sound is lush and beautifully rounded. The dialog is always crisp, stable, and very easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.

Jeune & Jolie Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Francois Ozon - in this video interview, the French director explains how Jeune & jolie came to exist and why it is not a film about prostitution, and discusses the type of research that was needed during the pre-production process (and specifically his meetings with psychoanalyst Serge Hefez), the casting of Marine Vacth, etc. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (12 min).

• Marine Vacth - in this video interview, the young French actress recalls her first encounter with Francois Ozon and her initial impressions of his script, and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of her character, the type of research she did to prepare herself for her role, etc. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (10 min).

Jeune & Jolie Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

What makes Francois Ozon's latest film Young & Beautiful work is its refusal to moralize or judge its young protagonist. Instead, it attempts to understand why she becomes addicted to sex with strangers and then repeatedly puts herself in danger without fear. At times the film becomes quite dark, but it never evolves into a miserabilist drama. (With Austrian director Ulrich Seidl behind the camera, Young & Beautiful undoubtedly would have looked and felt drastically different). Fans of Ozon's early work should be very pleased with it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.