Student Services (Mes chères études, 2010), Déborah François delivers a bold and haunting performance as Laura, a university student who turns to sex work to survive financial hardship. François brings to the role a raw, unfiltered beauty—soft, youthful, and almost innocent at first glance—but it’s her emotional depth and quiet intensity that truly make her character unforgettable. Laura’s sexuality in this film is not glamourized; it’s complex, conflicted, and layered with vulnerability, power, and growing detachment.
What makes Laura so captivating is how her charm evolves throughout the story. In the beginning, she exudes a subtle sensuality—shy, unsure, and edged with curiosity. But as she delves deeper into transactional relationships, a shift occurs. Her eyes grow more guarded, her movements more calculated. Still, there remains something deeply magnetic in her presence. Even in the most emotionally uncomfortable scenes, François maintains a kind of fragile allure—a beauty that seems suspended between girlhood and womanhood, between empowerment and exploitation.
The film walks a delicate line, and François carries it with grace. Her portrayal never falls into cliché. Instead, she shows how sexuality can be both a source of control and a space of emotional erosion. She invites the viewer to see Laura not as a symbol, but as a human being—aching, lonely, and searching for a way out. That tension between survival and self-worth gives her sensuality a piercing realism.
Déborah François gives a performance that is as brave as it is intimate. In Student Services, her beauty is not polished or posed—it’s lived-in and raw, shaped by difficult choices and emotional bruises. Her sexuality lingers not in fantasy, but in truth—complex, heartbreaking, and utterly human.
