With The Beautiful Person, French director Christophe Honore reimagined a novel set in the 17th century court of Versailles as a high school drama in contemporary Paris. Lea Seydoux plays Junie, the sulky new girl every boy wants to know. It's a sexy yet mostly conversational film moving at the pace of adolescence—lots of activity enacted against the seemingly unhurried expanse of unlimited time. What will strike Americans as exotic is the easy intimacy between teachers and students. Felonies under U.S. law are dismissed with a wink and a nod. Junie and her dashing young Italian instructor Nemours (Louis Garrel) aren't the only ones having an affair. Junie might be better off sticking with the quiet boy Otto (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet) than a twentysomething teacher who falls obsessively in love. The Beautiful Person is out on DVD.
