
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 se... (Full plot summary below)
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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.
Leave your thoughts about Young & Beautiful.
| Arkansas Democrat-GazettePhilip Martin...echoes Luis Bunuel's 1967 classic Belle de Jour in some obvious ways |
| NPRBob MondelloFilmmaker Francois Ozon is a young writer/director known for provocative work with mature stars — Kristin Scott Thomas was in his last picture, Catherine Deneuve in the one before that. And in Young and Beautiful, he establishes that you don't have to be young to be beautiful by having a still stunning Charlotte Rampling drop by to give his young star a life lesson. Or six. |
| Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerHe uses Vacth, a beauty who somewhat resembles the young Nastassja Kinski or Dominique Sanda, for her eerie, implacable hauteur. There is a mask behind her mask. |
| Eye for FilmAnton Bitelkeeps holding out a promise of insight into its young protagonist's mentality and makeup, but ends up merely observing her from a cool distance, as if through the binoculars from the opening scene. |
| Film School RejectsShaun MunroFans of the director craving another toothed, bracing effort will find themselves very much at home here. |
| The PlaylistKevin JagernauthOzon wants to have it both ways with Young & Beautiful, using a young woman's risk-filled sexual awakening as an illustration of coming-of-age, while also demanding a realism from a situation that he keeps far from being rationalized and justified. |
| Fan The FireSam BatheAn engaging and well executed turn from the accomplished Ozon. |
| OregonianJamie S. RichYoung & Beautiful is mysterious and erotic, though the ending may leave some as cold as Isabelle. |
| Urban CinefileAndrew L. UrbanChaptering the film into the four seasons seems like a device without real meaning or clear metaphorical purpose. It begins in summer, when Isabelle loses her virginity, for example |
| Slant MagazineDavid Lee DallasThe film's increasingly unnerving story mostly unfolds with minimal flair, intensely focused as it is on its steely and enigmatic protagonist. |