Chloë Sevigny is all around the indie scene today. MUBI simply dropped the absurdist comedy Magic Farm that sees the acclaimed actress as a disgruntled TV producer shedding her wits in Argentina. This week, her extra critical love-triangle drama Bonjour Tristesse sees Sevigny attempting to not lose her wits in Europe as she reunites with an outdated flame of kinds, performed by Claes Bang.
The Danish actor appears and sounds precisely like he does in The Sq. (2017), and Bang’s newest character in Bonjour Tristesse even feels a bit like a non secular sequel to his lead position in Ruben Östlund’s satirical movie from 2017. Each are lady-killing womanizers, egocentric of their day-to-day laissez-faire methods of filling up their wide-open calendars with cash of their pockets. For those who have a look at Bang’s character in The Sq. and suppose, “What would his life seem like with a daughter within the image?” — try his newest movie, from first-time director Durga Chew-Bosev.
Introducing Lily McInerny
Bonjour Tristesse
3
/5
- Launch Date
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Could 2, 2025
- Runtime
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110 Minutes
- Director
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Durga Chew-Bose
- Writers
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Durga Chew-Bose
- Lily McInerny steals the present with a hypnotic, seductive efficiency.
- The sun-swept setting and delightful our bodies are gorgeously captured.
- Raymond would possibly drive you mad, and Sevigny is underutilized.
Let it’s recognized, in the meantime, that Bonjour Tristesse is predicated on a novel of the identical title by Françoise Sagan and was already tailored to the large display screen again in 1958. That well-received model featured French New Wave icon Jean Seberg, who would go on quickly after to star in Jean-Luc Godard’s masterpiece, Breathless (1960). In Bonjour Tristesse, she tackled the difficult lead position of younger Cécile, who’s portrayed within the new movie adaptation by rising star Lily McInerny.
Curiously, out of the larger names like Sevigny and Bang, younger McInerny is the true cause to stay round till the top credit roll — along with the breathtaking imagery all through. Apart from that, the brand new tackle Bonjour Tristesse (2024) is kind of a slow-burn which may go away your butt falling asleep at sure elements.
This is a fast French lesson: “Tristesse” means “disappointment,” in case you had been pondering the movie’s title, which is not the very first thing that involves thoughts whenever you see the unimaginable setting of Bonjour Tristesse. Given how the movie opens, on the drop-dead beautiful French seaside with engaging central characters, it is simple for one’s thoughts to go, “Ah, the summer time of affection.”
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However not so quick. If you’re mendacity round all day with cash to burn and an excessive amount of free time, bother is bound to brew. And that is kind of what Raymond (Bang) represents, dwelling the excessive life once we first meet everybody in act one — together with his teenage daughter Cécile (Lily McInerny) and girlfriend Elsa (Nailia Harzoune). Raymond is a widow, because it seems, however appears to be fairly previous the mourning interval as he spends his days laughing away along with his gals. However that is apparently not sufficient for Raymond. He quickly reveals, because the story’s catalyst for many who have not learn the guide or seen the 1958 movie, that he is been privately speaking along with his late spouse’s American pal, Anne (Sevigny), in current months.
Es-tu triste maintenant?
Director Chew-Bosev has chosen to set her Bonjour Tristesse iteration in modern instances, so modernity rears its head in fascinating methods, including new components of alienation to this basic story. Which means Raymond’s been planting the seed for Anne’s impending arrival via emails. Nobody actually bats an eye fixed, as Raymond performs it off like he and Anne, alongside along with his late spouse, had been merely simply three peas in a proverbial pod again within the day. So what may go flawed?
Once we notice it is Sevigny portraying Anne, stunning as she is, we cinephiles have been primed over time to know the seasoned actress is not any stranger to enjoying hardnosed, no-nonsense feminine elements. In principle, if Raymond tries something, Anne would possibly simply knock some sense into the perpetual womanizer and brush him off, no?
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Suppose once more. It at all times makes for an exciting cinematic juxtaposition when betrayal ensues towards picturesque, nearly utopian backdrops. In Bonjour Tristesse, the dearth of musical rating additionally heightens sure stunning however tense moments, as we witness Raymond beginning to grow to be a bit of too cozy with Anne behind Elsa’s again, making for a quietly unnerving cinematic expertise general — for probably the most half. An excessive amount of of the movie’s period is wasted absorbing the solar in between the juicy moments, however as soon as younger Cécile lastly takes a break from getting frisky together with her dashing boyfriend Cyril (Aliocha Schneider), she catches on to Raymond’s antics and tries to take motion and quash it — to probably devastating penalties.
A Basic Coming-of-Age Heroine in Trendy Instances
McInerny is a rising star who has additionally shined in equally hard-hitting indies like Palm Bushes and Energy Traces (2022). And in Bonjour Tristesse, she maybe yanks the European rug out proper from below her co-stars due to a principally commanding lead efficiency. And that is saying one thing, being up towards heavyweights like Sevigny and Bang. It is a coming-of-age story in spite of everything, so thank goodness the Cécile half is nailed. In any other case, this newest iteration of the basic novel would have merely collapsed. After which there’s Sevigny, who we’ll endlessly love however might find yourself favoring different current showstopping performances of late (have you ever seen Netflix’s Monsters?) over the moderately underwhelming Anne, sadly sufficient.
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In an alternate world, there are a pair methods we may have been floored when Sevigny makes her grand entrance in Bonjour Tristesse. For starters, what a couple of wardrobe makeover? The best way she is now, Anne’s resounding magnificence is commonly shrouded in conservative, tightly wrapped scarves, so it is a bit perplexing why Raymond would possibly grow to be instantly entranced together with her over his present intoxicating girlfriend, Elsa. There’s nonetheless a lot to absorb right here moreover the beautiful surroundings, together with some surprising plot twists within the third act, for many who do not know the story. Director Chew-Bosev even takes some liberties together with her tackle the basic story, serving to to make this a worthwhile remake moderately than one more pointless one.
From Greenwich Leisure, Bonjour Tristesse will open in theaters Could 2, 2025.