Recensioni de* critic*

Rather than passive observation . . . the actively compassionate, political filmmaking of Varda and Serraille depict the difficulty of the struggle for subjectivity in a society in which objectification is relentless. . . . Both Paula and Mona are certainly escaping something; the question that Jeune Femme and Vagabond are asking about their active solitude is whether there is a liveable alternative to walk towards.

If the film seems indecisive about how funny it wants to be, the observational humour of Léonor Serraille’s script can be dead-on. Every overachieving contemporary to whom one has ever failed to measure up is evoked by the airy CV offered by Lila’s mother, as she shows Paula around her palatial home: “I used to be an accountant; now I’m a dancer.”

When I first saw Jeune Femme, I was bowled over by its dynamism and comic brio. . . . On a second viewing, I'd revise my view somewhat, and maybe play down the idea that Jeune Femme is strictly a comedy. It's a very hard-edged film, one of those comedies that make you laugh because they go uncomfortably close to the edge of despair: Paula's life in limbo is one of isolation and desolation, and her misadventures here are like a descent into hell.

Dosch’s performance is nothing less than astonishing, moving with fluid angst from pathetic waif to vengeful fury, jilted lover to abandoned daughter, playful babysitter to sensitive psychologist. The mood shifts are as credible as her animated facial expressions, all as revealing as they are deceiving. Dosch’s tour de force is matched and counterpointed by Serraille’s directorial subtlety.

Snappily edited, and shot with intimacy and imaginative framing.

Two moments of stunning direct address bookend this beautifully acted, droll and moving film... Dosch's explosive performance in Jeune Femme, which is both highly verbal and often idiosyncratically physical, might lead one to assume that significant improvisation occurred during the shoot, but no. Sérraille's script was meticulously written, even "écrit au millimetre," Dosch said, which she appreciated, because it helped her "figure out how the character thinks.

Serraille is less interested in neatly resolving plot strands than she is in depicting the furious moment with all its colour and confusion – a state cinema rarely captures. She makes no attempt to give Paula grand social significance or a clear moral position. All that can be said about her identity is in the French title: she is a young woman.

How on earth is she going to keep this up? That's the question, posed internally, that sprang to mind while watching the gently delightful debut feature Jeune Femme... The film plays like an assured American comedy with its quick-fire pacing and conventional, redemptive arc. But the film is pure French in its tone and atmosphere – it's a love letter to Paris, but one written in a concoction of red wine, blood and cat food.

A fearless, powerhouse performance by Laetitia Dosch infuses every frame of Montparnasse Bienvenue (Jeune Femme), the kinetic, incident-packed portrait of rudderless yet resilient Paula, a 31-year-old woman in emotional free-fall.