Bonjour tristesse (1958)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writers:

Françoise Sagan (novel)
Arthur Laurents (screenplay)

Release Date:

April 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Cecile, decadent young girl who lives with her rich playboy father Raymond. When Anne, Raymond's old love interest...

Plot Keywords:

Playboy | Riviera | French Riviera | Foreign Language Adaptation | Father Daughter Relationship

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 11

11:30 PM

TCM

Cast

Deborah Kerr	...	Anne Larson
David Niven	...	Raymond
Jean Seberg	...	Cecile - Raymond's daughter
Mylène Demongeot	...	Elsa
Geoffrey Horne	...	Philippe
Juliette Gréco	...	Herself as a night club singer.
Walter Chiari	...	Pablo
Martita Hunt	...	Philippe's Mother
Roland Culver	...	Mr. Lombard
Jean Kent	...	Mrs. Helen Lombard
David Oxley	...	Jacques
Elga Andersen	...	Denise
Jeremy Burnham	...	Hubert
Eveline Eyfel	...	Maid

Runtime:

USA:94 min | Argentina:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Côte d'Azur, France

Company:

Wheel Productions

Trivia:

Dominique Wilms was Otto Preminger's first choice for the part of Elsa, but she refused.

Quotes:

Anne Larson: You know, I spent my honeymoon by the sea 12 years ago.
Cecile: Did you like it? I mean, the place?
Anne Larson: Yes, I liked both it and the place.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Les bonnes femmes (1960)

Soundtrack:

Bonjour Tristesse

Dated, but Still Enjoyable

In the French Riviera, the spoiled and futile seventeen years old girl Cecile (Jean Seberg) is spending the summer vacation with her father, the widow playboy and bon-vivant Raymond (David Niven), and his girlfriend Elsa (Mylène Demongeot). Cecile has a serious Complex of Oedipus with her father, and they have a quite incestuous relationship. The successful designer and former friend of her mother Anne Larson (Deborah Kerr) arrives in their seaside house invited by Raymond to spend a couple of days with them, and the life of Cecile changes when Raymond proposes Anne to marry him. Full of jealous, Cecile plots with Elsa to separate Anne from Raymond.

"Bonjour Tristesse" is a film that became very dated, but it is still enjoyable, mostly because of Jean Seberg, who is amazingly perfect in her role, and the charming cast. The direction of Otto Preminger is very precise, as usual, using the black and white to picture the present and colors for the past. Jean Seberg, Debora Kerr and Mylène Demongeot are extremely beautiful and David Niven is great in the role of a silly millionaire with no other preoccupation but women and entertainment. In the present days, it can be clearly seem that the story shows, but does not emphasizes, an incestuous relationship between Cecile and Raymond. The costumes of Givenchy and the Cartier jewelries glitter the colored part of the movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Bom Dia Tristeza" ("Good Morning Sadness")