Young & Beautiful (2014) - Francois Ozon

Isabelle, a seventeen year old girl, is on summer vacation with her family in the South of France.  While there she meets Felix, a german tourist, who she begins a relationship with that could only be described as disultory.  Isabelle loses her virginity to Felix one night on the beach, only to cast him aside days later.  Now that summer is over, Isabelle returns to school where we discover that she has become a high-class prostitute.  Using a website, Isabelle meets up with various wealthy older men at chic hotel's where she is paid for sexual pleasure.  Isabel has become a professional but she only allows herself to experience pleasure with one older man, who treats her well.  When this man dies without warning by a heart attack, Isabelle find's her double life exposed, forcing her to deal with the consequences.  Francois Ozon's Young & Beautiful is a fascinating study of youth sexuality that never feels forced or didactic in approach.  The film itself never judges Isabelle for her decisions, presenting her as a deeply troubled woman whose lost in her own sexuality.  While the film does make it clear that Isabelle's relationship with her father is basically nonexistent, the film never gives any concrete reason as to why Isabelle has gone down this path.  Ozon suggest that the times we live where sex is just a button-click away are partly responsible as well for Isabelle's viewpoint of sexuality but he never goes as far as to put the blame on a single concrete reason.   While this works as an interesting portrait, the film never fully gets under Isabelle's skin, giving us any true insight into her psyche.  I understand that Isabelle herself is struggling with her own identity but I needed to see it more.  We are never given a chance to fully understand where she is coming from to the point that the film feels somewhat incomplete because of it.  Ozon's Young and Beautiful is another interesting endeavor but it is never digs deep enough to try and understand the character behind the actions.

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