PalCinema Review: Bonjour Tristesse

Chloe Sevigny, Lily McInerny, and Claes Bang lead a disappointing story set on a French seaside.

April 30, 2025

FILM: BONJOUR TRISTESSE

DIRECTED BY: DURGA CHEW-BOSE

STARRING: LILY MCINERNY, CHLOE SEVIGNY, CLAES BANG

RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars

By Dan Pal

There are some films that hold a lot of promise from their first scenes and really build interesting worlds. Then a plot shift arrives and destroys any sense of carefully constructed logic. That is, unfortunately, the case with Bonjour Tristesse, the directorial debut from Durga Chew-Bose which features a great cast including Lily McInerny, Chloe Sevigny, and Claes Bang. The story is based on a novel that perhaps fills in many of the film’s plot holes. An early adaptation was directed by Otto Preminger in 1958 starring Jean Seberg, David Niven, and Deborah Kerr which received some awards attention. This one will not.

The new version opens in a beautiful, tranquil setting on the French seaside. Cecile (McInerny) is having a summer romance with Cyril (Aliocha Schneider.) Her father Raymond (Bang) seems to also be enjoying an idyllic life with the woman in his life, Elsa (Nailia Harzoune.) They all smile, drink, smoke, dance, and listen to music. Sounds pretty carefree, doesn’t it?

Then Raymond announces that Anne (Sevigny) will be joining them. She’s an old friend of his late wife. The three of them seemed to have had a pretty strong bond in the past. As Anne arrives she proves to be a disruption that reshapes the family’s present world.

Chloe Sevigny creates an interesting character in Anne, who is a blonde, sophisticated designer that initially comes across as very precise and controlled. Everyone else is dark haired and looser. (A slight metaphor for decadence vs. purity?) Anne finely eats her apple and butters her toast with a knife while Cecile and the others seem much less interested in table manners. It becomes clear though that the previous bond between Raymond and Anne has been usurped by Elsa in a long take featuring Elsa taking Anne’s seat at a breakfast table. However, Anne isn’t going anywhere and even takes on a mothering role toward Cecile, pushing her to study and gently caressing her hair. Then Raymond and Anne’s previous personal connection is rekindled.

This is where the plot begins to lose itself. Raymond and Anne announce they are getting married and Cecile is not happy. She comes up with a ridiculous plan with Cyril and Elsa to get Raymond back with the latter. The problem is, there’s no real logic to the plan. There’s also an age discrepancy that makes the likelihood of the scheme working a bit questionable. Sadly, Sevigny’s Anne loses some of the strong personality traits established in her first scenes. She becomes softer and later makes a decision that feels out of character for her. Cecile also goes through an unclear transition of sorts near the end of the film that essentially erases the motivation for the plan she had made.

It’s disappointing because the cast, particularly Sevigny and McInerny, is very good and the film is artfully shot. Claes Bang, who was so good and interesting on TVs Bad Sisters along with Ruben Ostlund’s film The Square, is somewhat wasted here and really doesn’t get to show his acting chops until late in the film. The setting is quite alluring if perhaps a bit too rocky for my own sense of relaxation and comfort. Ultimately though it is some of the sequences within the narrative that just don’t feel justified to make the film an overall satisfying experience.

Bonjour Tristesse opens theatrically this week.

What do you think? Does this one interest you? Have you seen the original?

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