SNP’s TIFF word of the day: Mangénue

You should know it because: I was imagining a word for heartbreakingly pretty boys after seeing two of them on TIFF screens yesterday. The first, Anton Yelchin, stars in Like Crazy, the long-distance love/loss story that hit it big at Sundance (in theatres here October 28). With the messy soft curls and sweet pallor of a Dickensian orphan, Yelchin isn’t attractive in a manly way, and he’s no Gosling. He’s more like the boy version of Carey Mulligan. Hence: mangénue.

The second, Henry Hopper―yes, son of Dennis―stars in Gus Van Sant’s emo teen romance, Restless (also out this fall). He’s not innocent in the way ingenues are supposed to be, but he doesn’t know the first thing about love. Until, of course, he meets a dying girl (Mia Wasikowska, who just graduated from ingénue status herself). Hopper could also be called a juvenile, an old cinematic term for dear-boy actors. I like it better, not being a fan of the too-numerous neologisms in which “man” is just tacked onto “bag” or “sandals” or whatever, but I will admit “mangénue” is way more fun to say.