Bonjour Tristesse

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DAVID K Great cast, great scenery, great cinematography, and a very nice intimate story Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/07/25 Full Review Sergio M The story, centred on the life of Cécile (Lily McInerny) a teenager whose mother has died, and who is vacationing on the coast with her father, Raymond (Claes Bang) and his girlfriend Elsa (Nailia Harzoune), attempted to portray the existential angst of a youth then besieged by the emptiness of life in a post-war France enjoying a growing posterity, while the specter of the Cold War seemed to overshadow their future. In this film, director Durga Chew-Bosse, I don't know if intentionally, introduces incongruous elements: the fashion, especially the actresses' swimsuits and the models of the cars make it clear that this is the period in which the story was written—the 1950s—yet, incoherently, there are also cell phones in the scene, which otherwise have no use in the story. A simple inconsistency and a lack of knowledge of the director? A deliberate resource, although without a clear objective? Many scenes are extremely tedious: how often do we want to see the protagonists swimming in the sea or sunbathing on the beach? In short, a remake of a novel whose subject matter is otherwise dated, and the director fails in her attempt, if she had one, to make the story relevant again. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 05/12/25 Full Review Bozhanka M The movie was beautiful. It is slow but this increases the suspense. The dialogues were often too mysterious at least I didn't understand the sense. One big minus - the language should have been French. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/10/25 Full Review Megan M Dull, frustrating, languishing. This film's alleged central theme of youthful desire is vague, and while it might have been shocking and interesting to explore in the 50s (when the book was released) it falls totally flat in this presentation. In terms of positives, the cinematography was lovely, with most scenes beautifully composed, allowing the visual to communicate rather than dialogue. Which was a relief because the dialogue was at times almost agonising. There were no unique voices, just ham-fisted metaphor, and faux deep observations with jarring, unnatural delivery. It was unclear if the poorly written screenplay resulted in the stilted acting or whether that was a separate issue - although I did find Sevigny became quite intriguing about halfway through. Overall the relationships were confusing and underdeveloped, the tension totally absent, and given how simple the narrative was, it should have been easier to follow the story. It's hard to know what went wrong here - you can be certain that it was not the fault of set, costume or cinematography, which were all excellent. I cannot recommend this film, I simply do not understand why it was made. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 05/10/25 Full Review avner k What a frustrating experience. The buildup is unnecessarily slow, and the scenes where the plot gets twisted are short, even bypassing the action. The acting is great and the individual scenes are lovely, but as a coherent story, this film is a dud. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 05/05/25 Full Review Daffodil L An exquisite film that captures the complexities of adolescence, love and romance with subtlety and grace. Durga Chew-Bose tells a timeless story with a languid pacing that allows the viewer to get lost in the film. All the actors are great. Lily McInerny is mesmerizing. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/05/25 Full Review Read all reviews

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