While his days of being more intentionally controversial are more contained to the earlier stages of his career, where he was seen as somewhere between an agent provocateur and wunderkind of contemporary European cinema, François Ozon still tends to make films that can cause quite a stir, even if they’re done in a way that is a lot more elegant and captivating than the works that occur at the start of his prolific career. This is perfectly embodied in Young & Beautiful (French: Jeune & Jolie), his compelling melodrama about a young woman venturing into her adult years through taking up a secret career as a prostitute, making herself available for a range of older men who tend to view her as just an objective body that is in their possession for a few hours, rather than a fully-formed individual who is simply doing her best to make a living. There are many conversations to be had with this material, and Ozon seems to be one of the few contemporary male filmmakers that can utilize his gaze in such a way that never feels exploitative, placing us in the position of passive observers into the life of a young woman navigating the hostile terrain that is modern life, and where every triumph pushes her closer to her goals, while every mistake teaches her the consequences of her actions – the two exist in communion with one another, and are explored extensively throughout this unsettlingly beautiful story of the intersections between identity and desire, and how they can sometimes be far more complex in practice than we imagine them to be when looking at such ideas from a distance.

As is often the case with many of his films, Young & Beautiful covers some very controversial subject matter, but it never seems to be willing to condone the actions of the protagonist. From the first moment in which she engages in the act of sex work, the director draws our attention to the fact that while he might not openly condemn her actions (since doing so would serve to invalidate the countless experiences of individuals that engage in this profession, which has been historically reviled and the source of a great deal of emotional and physical abuse throughout history), but he is not celebrating it either. This is not the first film to deal with the theme of sex work, but it is one that contains the very sensitive but undeniably striking touch of a filmmaker who is driven both by artistic curiosity and the incredible urge to commit the stories of a wide range of people onto film, pulling together various narratives that often interweave into stunning melodramas that are as achingly beautiful as they are haunting – and with the quality of the work he has shown throughout his career, it’s only fair to say that Ozon continues to develop as a filmmaker when it comes to telling these challenging and provocative stories, grappling the very narrow division between pushing boundaries and courting controversy. Young & Beautiful may not be the most daring film he has made, but it is one that feels like it is openly embracing a very different kind of moral structure, looking less at the action and more at what motivates it – and as a result, what we initially imagine to be a relatively straightforward story of sexual desire flourishes into a much deeper and more profound exploration of identity, which is primarily what Ozon seems to be interested in conveying throughout this film.

Therefore, one aspect of Young & Beautiful that is worth noting is how it actually doesn’t orbit around the main character’s career as a sex worker as much as it does looking at her various existential quandaries, focusing on her perpetual efforts to reconcile the fact that she is forcing herself to grow up long before her time, while still holding onto whatever fragments of her childhood she can. This essentially leads to a narrative that focuses squarely on how someone is capable of living a double life, many of whom are capable of doing so for many years – but just as fact as they relish their ability to disappear into different personas, a small mistake or unexpected event can dismantle their entire well-crafted web of deception. This is what this film is most interested in exploring – Isabelle and Lea are two sides of the same person, leading almost entirely separate lives, which occupies the first portion of the film, which is fascinating but otherwise not all that interesting outside of a few moments where we see the character developing her methods of deception. It’s in the latter portions when their paths begin to cross, and characters start to uncover the truth that Young & Beautiful is most effective. It combines passionate romance and raw eroticism to present a very deep character study about the various roots of sexual desire, but it never becomes solely about this particular set of details, but rather a wider and more interesting glimpse into the human condition, as captured by someone who has often proven his mettle as one of the great social critics of his era, and a director whose constant ability to provoke without causing too much discomfort has made him one of our great contemporary artists.

The way Ozon perceives his characters is always so compelling – they’re far more complex than just mere archetypes, and we therefore never know what role each one of them is going to play in the overall story, which keeps us engaged and prevents the film from falling into the same predictable structure we often find when it comes to this kind of melodrama. Marine Vacth is a formidable lead – considering the very distinct title of the film, she did have to do quite a bit of work to indicate that she was more than just the objectified muse as suggested at the start. Ozon has always written incredible female characters, and in taking on the role of Isabelle, as well as her secret persona Lea, Vacth is absolutely incredible, turning in a performance for the ages – and while it does take some time to fully comprehend the breadth of what she is doing (since many may misunderstand her more internal work for a lack of range), we soon come to realize there is an abundance of emotional resonance throughout her performance. Her interactions with the other characters, including her mother and younger brother (who is played by the young actor Fantin Ravat, who steals every scene he is in as her closest confidante and the person she trusts the most in the world), and the astonishing Charlotte Rampling, who appears in the final few minutes as the person who brings the film to a conclusion and allows us to feel the emotional catharsis that we had been anticipating throughout the entire story. However, as interesting as the characters in the periphery may be, Young & Beautiful belongs solely to Vacth and her stunningly complex work, which sets the foundation for the film’s increasingly nuanced exploration of sexual identity, as filtered through the eyes of a young woman who finds herself gradually more immersed in a world that is filled with a blend of passion and depravity.

Throughout Young & Beautiful, Ozon is engaging in a kind of fascinating excavation of the human condition, looking at a story that has its root in a taboo subject, and using the audience’s initial shock and bewilderment as the start of a truly gripping journey into a year in the main character’s life, watching as she gradually moves from adolescence to adulthood. The film is an unorthodox coming-of-age tale, featuring the same commitment to focusing on a young protagonist who is undergoing an education, albeit one that is far more scandalous than more traditional efforts. Beautifully complex, but never celebratory to anything other than the main character’s growing sense of confidence, Young & Beautiful is a truly compelling film, one that is motivated by the director’s steadfast curiosity with seeing how far he can plumb the emotional depths of a story that would be brutally exploitative and borderline manipulative in the hands of a filmmaker that didn’t have even a fraction of the empathy he has for his characters. It is not the peak of Ozon’s creative pursuits, but it is far from a bad film – it occupies the sizeable mid-tier of his career, being a solid and enthralling story of a young person finding themselves through surrendering to their inner quandaries, and in the process discovering new methods of self-expression, which is really the most striking and interesting aspect of the film as a whole. It feels like we are voyeurs, peering into the life of a protagonist as she develops into a much more complex individual, and whether this is a result of Vacth’s spirited performance, or Ozon’s ability to capture every small detail, Young & Beautiful is a tremendously moving and provocative film that proves that some of the most striking stories are those that appear to be the most simple.