There was slight trepidation going into Bonjour Tristesse. Justifying itself as another “adaptation” of Françoise Sagan’s text rather than remake of Otto Preminger’s masterpiece of mise-en-scène, there’s still some hesitation about the chutzpah that must go into thinking you can top that great craftsman at the height of his power. As directed by writer-turned-filmmaker Durga Chew-Bose with a great deal of formal assurance (you definitely won’t mistake this for something akin to, say, Maximum Overdrive in that career-switch category), this 2024 iteration is a highly respectable effort that’ll speak to countless people the original didn’t. One major difference being that Preminger made the film as a showcase for the muse he was having an affair with, Jean Seberg, casting some leering-male element onto the whole project. Chew-Bose’s project isn’t so much feminist as feminine––thata working-out of neurosis that doesn’t provide completely easy answers.
For those unfamiliar with any telling of the story, our “heroine” is the teenage Cecile (Lily McInerny), who’s living a languid, lavish summer at her widower father Raymond’s (Claes Bang) French estate. Romancing an empty-headed yet kind twink (Aliocha Schneider) while her father takes up time with a young dancer (Nailia Harzoune), the sun-dappled days full of good food and conversation seem to never end. A complication comes with the arrival of Anne (Chloë Sevigny), a longtime family friend who works in fashion. Introduced via the bun in her hair (the film still respects classical Hollywood with such an overt Vertigo homage), this eternal It Girl serves as a movie-star presence in a variety of ways, despite only receiving an “and” credit.
Anne twists the successful dynamic in a number of ways. For one, Cecile and Anne can get along because the latter treats the former like an adult, but rivalry over Raymond’s attention is never far off. Looking deeper, the subtext of Sevigny’s casting is seemingly about ’90s nostalgia. The film is contemporary, but aside from a few cellphone scenes, is on its surface about as timeless as the original. That said, downtown-90s cool casts such a shadow over all contemporary notions of hipness (look no further than Sevigny appearing in a Charli XCX video this year) that with its character tension, Bonjour Tristesse begins to reveal itself as concerning a current generation’s insecurity above all else.
Bonjour Tristesse‘s talky and patient (also not free of enviable lifestyle porn) approach places so much weight on women’s dynamics that it may alienate some (middle-aged male attendees walked out of the press screening in droves). Chew-Bose’s filmmaking can be tasteful to something of a fault; the number of whispery conversations begins tipping the film over from gentle character piece to slight self-importance, a palpable self-consciousness of hyper-sensitivity. Yet for whatever hiccups, Bonjour Tristesse still justifies itself: its brand of melancholy strikes a wholly different note than a classic predecessor.
Bonjour Tristesse premiered at TIFF 2024.
The post TIFF Review: Bonjour Tristesse Strikes a Different Note Than Otto Preminger’s Masterpiece first appeared on The Film Stage.
