Prepare to have the brie blasted right off your cracker in the sumptuous drawing room drama Bonjour Tristesse, the feature film debut by Canadian novelist Durga Chew-Bose, who adapted the screenplay from the novel by Françoise Sagan. Teenage Cecile (Lily McInerny) is summering at the vacation beach house her family owns in the south of France. She spends her days reading, swimming, and making out in the sand with her cute boyfriend Cyril (Aliocha Schneider), while her father, Patrick (Claes Bang), cavorts with his professional dance girlfriend Elsa (Nailia Harzoune). Every day is the same shade of perfect, until one night Patrick announces that they are having a surprise visitor, one of his oldest friends in the world, Anne (Chloe Sevigny). Anne is now a famous fashion designer in Paris, but years ago had been very close to Patrick and Cecile’s deceased mother before Cecile was born. Cecile finds Anne to be very mysterious and just a little antagonistic, despite their deep talks about art and inspiration. As things suddenly swerve in an unexpected direction, Cecile wonders what she can do to get her life right back to where she liked it before Anne’s intrusion.
Even though I specialize in the farthest reaches of indie exploitation cinema, Bonjour Tristesse was one big shocker after another for me. First shock was the film is almost entirely in English. Despite a French title and being set around France, French is only spoken with subtitles 4% of the picture. Next shocker was how Chew-Bose is able to immerse me into the very expensive universe the characters inhabit.
Another reason I usually stick with exploitation is that the genre specializes in grotesque variations of real desperation, something that is hard to find among the well-off on this planet. However, Chew-Bose allowed me to follow the relaxation patterns shown in the first act to the point where I felt like I was on vacation myself. The biggest shocker is how all the different elements introduced come together at the finale.
“Cecile wonders what she can do to get her life right back to where she liked it…”
The way it all comes together made me reevaluate just how much cinematic extremity can be achieved by a well-built drama. While I have seen many scenes of fabricated violence on-screen, Chew-Bose pulls off a seat-shaking display of emotional devastation unmatched in the realm of splatter. It takes a long time to get there, but once you arrive, you realize why you came.
The biggest influence on Chew-Bose’s directorial debut seems to be Tarkovsky, as it shares the Russian master’s languid pacing with many moments of close-ups to stop and smell the roses. The narrative of Bonjour Tristesse is punctuated by a parade of gorgeous extreme close-ups focusing on the intricacy of various objects; if the devil is in the details, then this could be a potential candidate for the Amityville summer home. I adored all the vintage book covers on display, making me feel like the 90s never stopped in Europe, with the abundance of reading and cigarette smoking on display.
The shine of Sevigny’s star power is so evident here that you may need protective lenses. I am a fan of Sevigny due to her efforts to preserve the film work of Linda Manz, the female James Dean, whose portrait I have tattooed on my chest. Her role as a Parisian force in fashion is a welcome departure from her recent cavalcade of masterfully portrayed weather-beaten brood mares. Sevigny embodies elegance and poise in every frame, with her hand firmly on the dial pointing toward the enigmatic. It is this fortress-like surety that makes the penultimate scene prior to the climax all the more devastating. It was like watching from the shore a lake of frozen ice break beneath an ice fishing shack that plunges into the depths with no idea who may have been inside. Bonjour Tristesse is a rich experience in more ways than one, while it also burns beneath with a rising secret fire. Give it some patience, and it will give you an unforgettable experience.
"…will give you an unforgettable experience."
