BONJOUR TRISTESSE (2025) - Mark Reviews Movies

Bonjour Tristesse, Cohen Media Group

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | May 1, 2025

Everything is so reserved in Bonjour Tristesse, a modern-day adaptation of Françoise Sagan's once-controversial 1954 novel, that we're left wondering what the supposed fuss—both within the story and for audiences back in the day—is about. Writer/director Durga Chew-Bose's debut movie wants to tackle some significant ideas, primarily the way the well-to-do and comfortably self-centered can hurt people without caring or even realizing that it's happening. It takes too long for that point to be made, while the buildup to it exists within the same relaxed mindset as its central characters.

The story, which was originally written by Sagan when she was a teenager and published when the author was 18, still possesses some worthwhile insights about youth and how even adults can behave as little more than grown-up kids. That's probably why the story's protagonist Cécile (Lily McInerny), a 19-year-old woman with no more ambition than to enjoy her summer at her family's country house in the south of France, gets along so well with her father Raymond (Claes Bang), a widower who seems almost as frivolous as his daughter. He might actually be more so.

Their dynamic is interesting, because Raymond treats his daughter like an adult in many ways—offering her wine at meals, sharing cigarettes as they lounge around the villa, not being too concerned where she goes or with whom she spends time—but admits that he doesn't like the idea of other people—men, to be more specific—looking at her as an adult. Maybe he knows a bit too much about how some men might look at a young woman, since he is that kind of man.

His current romantic partner Elsa (Naïlia Harzoune) is a few decades younger than him, after all, and this summer together for the three of them is all about having fun without a care in the world. Raymond and Elsa dance together and laugh and make noisy love in their bedroom, while Cécile is having her own and seemingly first sexual experiences with a young neighbor named Cyril (Aliocha Schneider).

Despite his concerns about men and his daughter in general, Raymond doesn't seem too worried about this young man. He says it's because he trusts his daughter, but perhaps it's because Raymond can sense that Cécile is his daughter and that a romantic young man like Cyril doesn't really stand a chance if he were to actually fall in love with her.

Then, Raymond announces that the trio will be having a guest. She's Anne (Chloë Sevigny), a woman who was a best friend to Raymond's late wife, Cécile's mother. The two women were very close, sharing something of a secret language, but since the wife's death, Raymond and Anne haven't communicated much over the years. That's the way it goes with adult friendships, Ramond explains to his daughter, and with a kind of beyond-her-years sense of nostalgia, Cécile says she can't wait to have old friends like that.

To be clear, the movie is enticing and compelling, simply because Chew-Bose's screenplay does understand these characters, communicates who they are, and bestows their laid-back way of life with the same relaxed approach, while cinematographer Maximillian Pittner captures the estate, other locales, and the landscapes in such a way that justifies exactly why this attitude feels justified. All of these characters come across as honest about who they are, although that's not exactly to the benefit of each other.

The big turn here is how the relationship between Raymond and Anne, who is quite the opposite of the free-spirited and emotionally carefree widower of her best friend, develops. Anne's a fashion designer who's very particular about details, schedules, and other practical matters. While she and Cécile have an immediate bond because of the young woman's mother, they do clash a bit when it comes to talking about what Cécile should be doing now and in the immediate future to make sure that the young woman has some goals to look forward to and some accomplishments to help her achieve them.

At first, it's not a big deal, of course, because Anne is no official or even informal position to tell Cécile what to do. When Ramond announces that his relationship with Anne has turned into something else, though, Cécile decides she has to find a way to stop that, lest Anne really interfere with her easy way of life.

This is a significant shift in both the narrative and the central character, as Cécile begins plotting a way to put something—or, more accurately, someone—between her father and her mother's best friend. The stakes of the plot become higher, mostly in that there are actual stakes to be had within this story, but Chew-Bose's approach to the material remains the same as it has been from the start.

Perhaps that's why everything—from the scheming, to the betrayals, to seeing Raymond for the kind of petty man he really is, to the inevitable consequences of the plan and Cécile's realization of what her game-playing has done—doesn't feel as consequential as it could and, maybe, should. Bonjour Tristesse creates and maintains a fine comprehension of its characters and a specific mood that reflects the kind of easy-going lifestyle they want to have. It might keep up the latter, however, too much and to the detriment of the complex, conflicted story it attempts to tell.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products

Buy the Book