Bonjour tristesse (1958)

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 | French Riviera | Riviera | Widower | Foreign Language Adaptation

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tutte Lemkow	...	Pierre Schube (uncredited)
Maryse Martin	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Otto Preminger

Writing credits
Françoise Sagan		(novel) (as Francoise Sagan)
Arthur Laurents		(screenplay)

Produced by
John Palmer	....	associate producer
Otto Preminger	....	producer

Original Music by
Georges Auric

Cinematography by
Georges Périnal		(as George Perinal)

Film Editing by
Helga Cranston

Production Design by
Roger K. Furse		(as Roger Furse)

Art Direction by
Ray Simm		(as Raymond Simm)

Makeup Department
Gordon Bond	....	hair stylist
George Frost	....	makeup artist
Janou Pottier	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Erica Masters	....	production manager
Philippe Senné	....	production manager (as Philippe Senne)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Serge Friedman	....	assistant director
Adrian Pryce-Jones	....	assistant director

Art Department
Kumi Sugai	....	paintings

Sound Department
David Hawkins	....	sound editor
David Hildyard	....	sound
Red Law	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Denys N. Coop	....	camera operator (as Denys Coop)
Wally Fairweather	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Robert Willoughby	....	special still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Hope Bryce	....	costume coordinator
May Walding	....	wardrober

Music Department
Lambert Williamson	....	conductor

Other crew
Saul Bass	....	title designer
Eileen Head	....	script supervisor
Tutte Lemkow	....	choreographer: dances
Max Slater	....	assistant to producer

Production Companies

• Wheel Productions

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1958) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Cartier  jewellery
• Givenchy  gowns
• Hermès  garment accessories

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:

Preminger always liked this film, although he felt the American critics did not do it justice. The film was a qualified success in France, yet American critics felt the film wasn't French enough, a detail that amused Preminger.

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

Preminger in transition

A fascinating, frustrating, though ultimately deeply satisfying film. Many readers have commented on the frustrations, and they are hard to deny. My experience of this movie goes back to the early 70s, when I first encountered it in ideal circumstances, at the Museum of Modern Art during its complete Preminger retrospective, and in a gorgeous, perfect print. A great introduction to a film whose very meaning resides in its glossy surface. The first few minutes of the film powerfully set up the tragedy that is to come: Saul Bass's dripping teardrop titles underscored with Auric's deeply tragic music, followed by the first black and white scenes depicting Cecile's current active but deeply disengaged life. Then, as Cecile arrives home and begins remembering "last summer", the blue Mediterranean sea begins to invade the frame, little by little -- a striking effect, to say the least --, we are there, in the midst of a carefree vacation with Cecile, Raymond and Elsa, and quite successfully invited to forget the tragedy that seems to be in the making and enter a carefree, sunlit world where nothing, seemingly, could ever go wrong. Masterful film-making, and, thus far, perfectly pitched: Seberg's perfectly expressionless and beautiful face has no small part in making it work. That she is less secure in the flashback scenes is unfortunate, but her physical presence at least gives the right signs: this is a very young girl, happy but extremely shallow. (Yes, I will admit that the line readings are quite stiff -- no question she is "acting." But, if one is already in the proper frame of mind they are not all that damaging.) What's important is the holiday mood, and the performances of Niven and Mylene Demongeot are sufficiently effervescent to evoke it. (Demongeot is a real charmer -- beautiful beyond belief and full of joie de vivre.) The arrival of Deborah Kerr on the scene changes all this: a dignified Lady coming into the midst of a world she finds immoral, distasteful and, in the deepest sense, unacceptable: her reaction to realizing that Raymond is, shall we say, shacking up with Elsa is the turning point of the film, the crossroads of comedy and tragedy. And from this point we are invited to see how, step by step, comedy turns to tragedy. What's most wonderful about this film is how diverting that progression is. The world of the French Riviera is, after all, a world of carefree bliss (at least on the surface), and we are given ample opportunity to enjoy that along with the characters in the film: a delightful casino scene (enlivened by the presence of that wonderful actor, Walter Chiari, a truly handsome man with a wonderful flair for comedy, and here, playing opposite Demongeot, particularly delightful) and a visually stunning dance at the dock, a masterpiece of costume design in delicious color and Cinemascope, worthy of a Minnelli musical (and, in its delirious scale, surpassing most of them). Finally, let me just say that the final moments of the film (and I will refrain from spoiling them) are among the most moving in all cinema: an evocation of self-loathing and emptiness that remains unrivaled in its beauty. Yes, beauty. Caveat emptor: It is useless to see this film in the pan&scan version (I have had the experience, and it is horrible). The Columbia DVD edition looks great (absolutely NO extras, by the way; it appears to have been simply dumped on the market -- odd treatment of a masterpiece). Oh, yes, my title heading: Preminger's previous films had mostly dealt with "little" events -- noirs, small comedies, etc.; most of his subsequent films ("Exodus," "The Cardinal," "Advise and Consent," "In Harms Way") with Big Events. This one is still on an intimate scale, but has much in common visually (particularly the masterful use of CinemaScope, to which Preminger took like a fish to water) with the later films.