Young & beautiful
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Young & beautiful |
| Original title | Jeune & Jolie |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French , German |
| Publishing year | 2013 |
| length | 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | François Ozon |
| script | François Ozon |
| production |
Eric Altmayer , Nicolas Altmayer |
| music | Philippe Rombi |
| camera | Pascal Marti |
| occupation | |
| |
Jung & Schön (Original title: Jeune & Jolie ) is a French coming-of-age film drama directed by François Ozon from 2013.
Marine Vacth stars as a seventeen-year-old high school student who starts prostituting herself after a disappointing sexual experience over the summer vacation. The film was nominated for a Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival .
action
The film is divided into four chapters, which correspond to the four seasons and stylistically reflect the mood in the film. In each chapter - usually at the end - a song by Françoise Hardy is sung.
summer
Isabelle spends the summer holidays, during which she also celebrates her 17th birthday, with her family by the sea. There she meets the German Felix and has sex with him for the first time. She is obviously disappointed and has no interest in seeing Felix again.
autumn
Back in Paris, Isabelle starts dating men for money. As it turned out later in the police interrogation, she and her friend Claire were approached after school by a man who offered them money for sex. Isabelle does not tell Claire that she secretly memorized the phone number given by the man and called him a week later. In addition, she saw - as you will also learn later - a report on television at that time, in which it was about young students who prostitute themselves in order to make ends meet. She bought a second cell phone and from now on offered her sexual services with revealing photos on the Internet. At the same time, she often watches porn. To hide it from her family, she only meets with men on weekdays after school, often in hotels, and has sex with them. She asks for a fee of 300 euros, later she receives more. One of her suitors is Georges, an older man. Isabelle sees him again after the first meeting one day, accompanied by a young woman, his daughter, by chance in the theater, which she visits with her parents. Shortly after the brief encounter, Georges gets in touch via SMS with a request for another rendezvous, and from then on the two meet regularly. While having sex with Isabelle in a hotel room, Georges probably has a heart attack and dies. Her attempts at resuscitation are unsuccessful, whereupon she flees in a panic.
winter
The police report to Isabelle's mother because they became aware of Isabelle's prostitution during the investigation into Georges' death. Confronted with the facts, Isabelle's mother tries in vain to understand how it could have come to this and reproaches herself and her daughter. Reluctantly at first, Isabelle begins talk therapy with a psychologist. The relationship between Isabelle and the people who know about her prostitution - her mother and stepfather, her brother, but also a couple of friends - is changing. Isabelle is eyed suspiciously. Relationships with her mother are particularly difficult. Isabelle confronts her mother with the fact that the latter is obviously having an affair with the husband of the couple who are friends, which she could conclude from observations in the theater, and makes it clear to her that she does not trust her either. In a later session with the psychologist, Isabelle reports how much it stimulated her to prostitute herself. Although she didn't feel anything during sex, she wanted to do it again a few hours afterwards. When asked about Georges' death, Isabelle expresses feelings of guilt. After Georges' death, which was different from other suitors, she gave up prostitution. Isabelle tries to integrate herself into the circle of her classmates and goes to a party where she gets closer to her classmate Alex and finally lets him kiss her after a brief hesitation.
spring
Isabelle's parents accept Alex as their daughter's new boyfriend. However, Isabelle breaks up with Alex because, as she tells him, she is not in love with him. She puts the second SIM card back in her cell phone and immediately receives numerous SMS that have not yet been received. Again she arranges to meet in the hotel lobby of the hotel where she used to meet Georges. Instead of a man, however, an older lady appears who introduces herself as Georges' widow. She contacted Isabelle via SMS and wants to talk to her about Georges' death and see the place where her husband died. Both enter the hotel room. Georges' widow does not blame Isabelle, but admits that she herself toyed with the idea of sleeping with men for money, but did not have the courage to do so. She asks Isabelle to lie down with her. Isabelle, who also wanted to visit the hotel room again, thanks her and falls asleep. When she wakes up, Georges' widow has left and she is alone.
criticism
“There is a staging tenderness, a visual intelligence in this film that cannot be described; you have to see them. Not that Ozon didn't also play the old movie game that consists of doing beautiful things with beautiful women. But it shows how Isabelle is gradually gaining the upper hand in this game. It eludes our fantasies and those of the cinema. "
“Ozon emphasizes that there is no moral to be drawn from his film. He does not judge the young person he shows for what he is doing. Nevertheless, he gives the viewer a lesson: The most difficult thing adults have to deal with young people is to accept that one does not understand the other. "
“Some scenes are reminiscent of porn - simply because men often copy what they saw in porn during the act. Ozone's view, however, remains non-pornographic. It's not supposed to stimulate. 'Jung & Schön' is about a young woman who recreates the fantasies of men for money. Anyone who sees this as an idealization of prostitution should rethink their understanding of sexuality. "
“François Ozon has again managed to create a French film that the mainstream audience can appreciate [sic!]. He neither gives a real reason for the decision to prostitute, nor does he force the film to have a round ending. The viewer must or may interpret for himself why it is the way it is. Friends of the self-contained film will therefore have their problems with "Young & Beautiful". Overall, a successful film has been made that shows that French films no longer have to be as complicated as they were in the past. Solely the following question remains agonizingly in the room for the German male viewer: Is the German to blame for the fact that she ultimately decided in favor of prostitution? "
“At the very beginning of Jung & Schön there is an old-fashioned, voyeuristic look through binoculars at the beautiful, hesitantly exposed girl. Ozone removes any guilt from this look without imposing it on anyone else. He maintains this position, even if the looks become more penetrating and the exposures more determined. He made a film that shouldn't please anyone, and that's a pretty good thing even if it fails. "
“The empathy and love with which François Ozon films his outstanding leading actress Marine Vacth as Isabelle is one of the most beautiful cinematic moments of the year. 'Young and [sic!] Beautiful' is a confusing, enigmatic, but also very sensual film. Simply wonderful cinema and very good ozone! "
"Ozone explains [...] that it was simply about self-discovery. About the dangerous time of growing up, when nobody needs a reason to be desperate. Prostitution, he says, is simply a form of self-harm, like starvation, like drugs, like cracking the skin. [...] All paths are open to her, back into society and into middle-class life - nothing irreversible has yet happened. But all the paths that are open are also mapped out. And one thing is certain: they do not lead to freedom. "
Others
Ozon named the films La Boum by Claude Pinoteau and À nos amours by Maurice Pialat as points of reference. He contradicted the interpretation that Isabelle had prostituted herself for pleasure or for the sake of a quick buck. Rather, she acted to find herself.
The plot of the film has parallels to the film Belle de Jour - Beauty of the Day (1967).
Web links
- Young & Beautiful in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for young and beautiful . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2013 (PDF; test number: 140 850 K).
- ↑ Andreas Kilb: Video film review: Jung & Schön - Nothing will be as it was, but everything is possible. faz.net, November 13, 2013, accessed May 9, 2014 .
- ↑ Wenke Husmann: Film ″ Young & Beautiful ″ - When will it finally get wild? zeit.de, November 12, 2013, accessed on May 9, 2014 .
- ↑ Christian Buß: Prostitution drama "Jung & Schön": 17 years, no dreams. In: Spiegel Online . November 12, 2013, accessed May 9, 2014 .
- ↑ Sebastian Lohse: Young & Beautiful. filmfutter.de, November 2, 2013, accessed on May 9, 2014 .
- ↑ Frédéric Jaeger: About the freedom to sell one's body. filmfutter.de, May 16, 2013, accessed May 9, 2014 .
- ↑ Jörg Taszman: Play and let play - “Young and beautiful”, a film by François Ozon about voyeurism and desire. dradio.de, November 11, 2013, accessed on May 9, 2014 .
- ↑ Tobias Kniebe: A form of self-harm . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of November 18, 2013
- ↑ Marie-Elisabeth Rouchy: François Ozon: "The voulais montrer l'adolescence comme un moment hormonally". August 21, 2013, accessed on May 9, 2016 : " C'est faux, bien sûr, et l'argent n'est pas non plus son moteur puisqu'elle vient d'une famille aisée, c'est pour se trouver, elle, qu'elle agit ainsi. "
- ↑ Rheinische Post February 12, 2018 (p. D7): The desire to break taboos