Léonor Serraille directs Laetitia Dosch, Souleymane Seye Ndiaye and Erika Sainte in this Parisian character study of a feckless woman entering her thirties realising she has no job, skills, home or support network after she breaks up with her university professor.

For the first 20 minutes alarm bells were ringing. A cute woman, who we are supposed to love but is frustratingly self sabotaging, having a manic episode. But eventually the movie settles into a tale of urban alienation, teetering on homelessness (parallels to Somersault) and eventually newly discovered agency to win the small battles she can and become independent. Though often a piece that swings from melancholy to outright annoying, you can’t deny the powerhouse performance by Laetitia Dosch that all the chaos orbits. A little bit Charlize Theron in Young Adult, a little bit Holly Golightly on uppers… who she most reminded me of in the more scabrous scenes was Julia Davis’ relentless sociopath in TV’s Nighty Night. Jeune Femme is too nice a film to continue down that dark path but it’s intriguing to see a movie at least experiment in that territory for a short while.

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My Top 10 Paris Movies

1. The Bourne Identity (2002)
2. Amelie (2001)
3. An American in Paris (1951)
4. Le Samourai (1967)

5. Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954)
6. La Haine (1995)
7. Read My Lips (2001)
8. Nikita (1990)
9. Belle de Jour (1967)
10. Dangerous Liasions (1988)