Young & Beautiful (2013)

Young & Talented: Marine Vacth shines
in the French film "Young & Beautiful."

Written and directed by the French filmmaker Francios Ozon, "Young & Beautiful" is an intelligent, sensitive and often mesmerizing coming of age tale about a young woman discovering the powers and limits of her maturing sexuality. The movie was nominated for a Golden Palm, the top prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Near the end of a vacation, Isabelle (Marine Vacth), the lithesome 17-year-old brunette protagonist, has sex for the first time with a boy during an idyllic night on the beach in South France. Looking away during the encounter, she sees a vision of herself twinkling in the moonlight that gently fades away as the experience ends.

If the image is meant to suggest that a part of Isabelle is disappearing, another side quickly steps in to take its place. By the time she has cultivated a secret online alter ego as a curvy call girl named Lea—packing a sexy change of clothes and sneaking out to secluded trysting places, usually posh hotels—it’s clear she’s exchanged innocence and naiveté for more adventurous and decidedly grown-up pursuits.

Even though “Young & Beautiful” has some explicitly intimate moments, Ozon is more cerebral and doesn’t cheapen scenes with tawdry, lewd gimmicks. The movie recalls some of Bernardo Bertolucci's work—"The Dreamers" (2003), about sexual experimentation among college students, comes to mind—in the way characters use sex less as a means to express passion or lust, and more as a device to represent freedom and individuality.

Eventually, Isabelle’s mother (Geraldine Pailhas) discovers the truth and reacts to her daughter’s clandestine double life with a believable mix of fury, confusion and heartbreak. She has been a good mother. Why would Isabelle, who has always seemed happy, suddenly develop such a wild streak? “You scare me,” she says to Isabelle at one point.

But growing up itself is scary, and while Isabelle’s mastery of sex has been liberating, its underlying meaninglessness has been equally disillusioning. There’s a palpable sadness toward the end when Isabelle reveals a deeper regard for Georges (Johan Leysen), an older client, that was unlike her other empty, detached encounters. Crying softly, it’s the closest she has gotten to love and still far away.

Marine Vacth, the young French model turned ingénue, anchors the movie with a brilliant, mysterious and exquisite performance. Without ever saying much, she conveys the teen's emotions largely through nuanced facial expressions—her deep blue eyes registering subtle hints of melancholy at some points, playful mischief at others, and genuine curiosity throughout. It's a smart, seductive, star-making turn.