JEUNE ET JOLIE - LFF 2013 - Day Two

‎I am still mulling over François Ozon's bored teen turns hooker drama, JEUNE ET JOLIE. I'd heard about references to the iconic BELLE DE JOUR and expected something fantastic and weird and subversive and instead I got something that was...well...rather dull.

The movie takes place over the course of a year with an affluent Parisian family. The 16 year old daughter, Isabelle loses her virginity in a rather perfunctory manner on a summer holiday, and when she returns to Paris goes on the game. Around half way through the film her family discover her secret, as one of her nicer but older tricks dies in media res, naturally leading to police involvement. The family react in an incredibly dignified manner, and it's all very French and open. They even tell her precocious kid brother.

The result are some rather funny scenes of family discomfort, particularly involving the stepfather. But overall we don't really come any closer to understanding what Isabelle is up to: other than a mild aversion to boyfriends she's just slept with. Of course, there's nothing wrong with mystique and enigma, as anyone who's watched BELLE DE JOUR knows.   But with Isabelle it's less assuming glamour and more frustrating opacity.

Still, I'm a big fan of Ozon and would like to suspend my judgment until I've seen this flick another time.

JEUNE ET JOLIE aka YOUNG & BEAUTIFUL has a running time of 95 minutes.

JEUNE ET JOLIE played Cannes 2013 and opened earlier this year in France, Belgium, Estonia and the Netherlands. It opens in Italy on November 7th; in the UK on November 29th and in Denmark on July 10th. 

RIVALS / LES LIENS DU SANG - entirely predictable French "thriller"

Writer-director Jacques Maillot recreates 1970s France in scrupulous detail in his new thriller LES LIENS DU SANG (mis-leadingly translated for its English release as RIVALS). The costumes, hair-styles, props, cars, cigarettes, music - you simply cannot fault the achievement of the production team. The problem is that while this movie is based on the true story of two brothers - one a cop, one a murderer - it lacks any narrative momentum or emotional engagement. François Cluzet plays Gaby - the errant elder brother to Guillaume Canet's straight-laced younger brother, François. Even though he disapproves of Gaby's lifestyle, François helps him get a job and a place to stay when he's released from prison. At first it seems as though Gaby will turn his life around, but the petty frustrations of life lead him back into high stakes crime. Accordingly, the denouement sees a predictable clash between the cop and the pimp. The key point about this film is that it isn't some big-budget slick police thriller pitting two rivals against each other in the manner of THE DEPARTED. It's small scale in the best sense - focusing on the banal reality of staking out prostitutes in small towns. The problem is that having taken such an approach you have to work even harder to gain and keep the audience's attention, and I just don't think this slow-paced, predictable film ever succeeds. As good as these actors are, the characters are all two-dimensional cliches. As a result, the denouement simply doesn't pack the required emotional punch.

LES LIENS DU SANG was released in Belgium and France in February and is currently on release in the UK as RIVALS.

London Film Festival Day 2 - ALL IS FORGIVEN/TOUT EST PARDONNE - dysfunction

ALL IS FORGIVEN is a patient, quiet film about damaged relationships being mended. The first hour is an uncompromising look at a complete arse-hole. Victor (Paul Blain) is a married man with a young daughter. He is also an abusive, adulterous, work-shy, self-pitying junkie. His wife Annette (Marie-Christine Friedrich) puts up with him until she can't take any more, and walks out with their 4-year old daughter, Pamela. The second part of the movie sees the now teenage Pamela (Constance Rousseau) edge toward a reconcilation with Victor.

At first glance, this movie has everything that usually winds me up. No real sense of plot or momentum - just a series of lingering scenes shot with handheld cameras. Victor is a complete shit and Annette is weak to keep taking him back. But the scenes are so authentic - so well-written, so natural, so well-acted - that I became engrossed in this train-wreck. In the second half, I was as fascinated as Victor to see how Pamela had turned out as a teenager. I was on tenterhooks at their first meeting. Particular praise has to go to Constance Rousseau who manages to capture all the shades of curiosity, fear, and child-like courage of the teenage girl. One wonders if writer/director Mia Hanson-Love is yet another Cahiers du Cinema contributor who is destined for great things.

ALL IS FORGIVEN/TOUT EST PARDONNE played Cannes and London 2007 and went on release in France in September 2007.