This Year's Model

THE NEW GIRLFRIEND (B+) - Francois Ozon, truly a master storyteller, does it again. He takes a fairly straightforward premise, adds a twist, and slyly spins an irresistible tale of friendship, love, obsession, sensuality and empowerment.

Claire (Anais Demoustier from "Bird People") and Laura (Isild Le Besco) are best friends from grade school. A deft montage in the first 10 minutes shows them bonding as girls and growing up, meeting their future husbands the same night at the same disco. Laura then is shown gravely ill at the baptism of her daughter, Lucie. Claire vows at the funeral to always protect Lucie.

Popping in one day on the widower, David (Romain Duris), Claire finds him at home dressed like a woman. Repulsed at first, she finds herself drawn to him, especially after he shows her the bounty of clothes in the closet of her dead best friend. Eventually David grows brave enough to venture out -- for a girlish shopping spree.

Claire dubs him Virginia, so that her husband won't be suspicious when she goes off on outings with her new "girlfriend." Soon, it's obvious that Claire is excited to have found a way to rekindle her soulmate connection to Laura by hanging out with her bewigged widowed husband and baby -- be it club-hopping or waxing his back.

Ozon, playing with a bright color palette and a cheery classical score, creates a quirky, retro utopia in suburban France. But, as he always does, he suffuses a playful teleplay with subtext and meaning. He carefully weaves strong threads through the narrative: Will Claire's husband, Gilles (Raphael Personnaz), find out? Will he be jealous? Is David just acting irrationally following the death of his young bride, or does he truly intend to transition to female? Will Claire fall for the David underneath the blond wig and frilly underthings? Will David feel used as a cheap replacement for Laura? Is he gay or straight or something in between?

Ozon is simply a genius at assembling the nuts and bolts narrative. You can't find a bad movie in his catalog: "Young and Beautiful," "In the House," "Time to Leave," "5 x 2," "Swimming Pool," "Under the Sand," "8 Women." Here, a film that often feels frivolous or shallow has a powerful undertow. Moments of dread or subtle suspense appear out of nowhere. Ozon also uses efficient bookends in the film. The opening moments and a key climactic scene both involve lifeless bodies being tenderly dressed and beautified by makeup. He's not above a few cornball touches (a cutesy scene with Lucie reacting gleefully calls to mind the magical realism of "Ricky"). When Claire slips up and must explain to her husband why she's spending time with David, she fudges and tells him that David is gay. When she tells David that she chose gay over transvestite, David responds, "Great! I'll look ridiculous."

Demoustier carries the film with calm and restraint. Whereas in "Bird People" she brought to mind American It Girl Shailene Woodley, here she had the presence of a young, freckled Isabelle Huppert. Duris, the lantern-jawed star of "Populaire" and "The Beat That My Heart Skipped," looks alternatively attractive and hideous in a dress and makeup. David's shifts from male to female and back again are disconcerting, leaving Claire conflicted; she has never fully reconciled the love and passion she apparently felt for Laura.

Ozon works his puppets effortlessly, churning this plot to a touching conclusion. It's a bit of a mystery how he does it. Now matter what he touches, it's a little bit of magic.

BONUS TRACK
The centerpiece of the film finds "Virginia" and Claire at a drag show where an arresting performer lip-syncs to the anthem "Une Femme Avec Toi" by Nicole Croisille (1975). There are no subtitles here, but you get the essence of it as sort of a French "I Am Woman." My favorite line: "You were happy as an Italian / who knows there will be love and wine" (which rhymes so much sweeter in French).