Bonjour Tristesse

Writer/director Durga Chew-Bose

director on the set

director with Lily McInerny and Chloë Sevigny 

novelist Françoise Sagan in Paris, 1955

BONJOUR TRISTESSE                    B                                                                                 France  Canada  Germany  Great Britain  USA  (110 mi)  2024  d: Durga Chew-Bose

This strange new feeling of mine, obsessing me by its sweet languor, is such that I am reluctant to dignify it with the fine, solemn name of ‘sadness.’ It is a feeling so self-indulgent and complete in itself that I am almost ashamed of it, whereas I had always looked upon sadness as being a worthy emotion. Before, I did not know what sadness was, though I knew what it was to be languorous, to have regrets and, more rarely, to feel remorse. Today it is as if I am enfolded in some silken thing, soft and enervating, that sets me apart from others.                                   —Françoise Sagan, opening lines from Bonjour Tristesse, 1954, This strange new feeling of mine, obsessing me by its ... (pdf)

18-year old Françoise Sagan’s once-scandalous 1954 novel is listed at #41 from Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century, a remarkable achievement for a teenager, modeling the 17-year old heroine after herself, a spoiled, free-spirited, and attractive Parisian teenager who has all the luxurious advantages, spending her summers on the French Riviera swimming, sunbathing, collecting seashells, drinking and dancing at nightclubs, hanging out at casinos, and napping, where she lives for sensual pleasure.  The psychological implications remain buried under the surface, revealing a side of herself she never knew existed, playing out like a bad dream.  The heart of Sagan’s text is brutal, a teenager who plays with the lives of adults, a daughter who can’t stand the notion of no longer being the center of her father’s attention, and a cruel insensitivity that disguises itself as logic.  At just 108 pages, written in a spare, yet detailed style, the book caused quite an uproar in a still predominantly Catholic France when it was published because of its amoral yet casual portrayal of free love — a hedonistic man openly living with an unmarried woman, an under-aged teenager who smokes, drinks alcohol, and sleeps with her boyfriend.  Published just a year before Nabokov’s Lolita, both books create quite a vivid impression of a bratty, sassy, pretty, flirty, and thoroughly manipulative teenage girl.  Unlike the author, however, who dived into reading the great classics of Stendahl, Gide, Camus, and Proust as a teenager, taking her pen name of Sagan from the recurring character of The Princesse de Sagan by her favorite author, Proust, this movie version of her teenage self has no such interest, as she couldn’t be bothered by expanding her mind or challenging her wits, as she’s too busy being a layabout under the hot sun, where she literally doesn’t have a care in the world.  That being said, it’s very hard to find audiences that actually care about a character who couldn’t care less about them.  What’s remarkable about cinema is that the intoxicating visual seduction can lure audiences into this dreamworld scenario, beautifully shot by Maximilian Pittner in Cassis, just 30 kilometers from Marseille, with very little camera movement, where the radiant nature of endless sunny days against a deep blue sea reminds viewers of Éric Rohmer, who made a living setting conversation-heavy stories under this exact same scenario, like CLAIRE’S KNEE (1970), PAULINE AT THE BEACH (1983), or A Summer's Tale (Conte d'été) (1996), with characters inevitably encountering some moral dilemma that takes us on an interior journey that balances the sensuous color palette.  Arguably the weakest and most disappointing element is the insipid music soundtrack, which sounds like generic indie-film light, just a step above elevator music, with the exception of The Roches’ Come Softly to Me YouTube (3:02), which appeared in Joan Micklin Silver’s CROSSING DELANCEY (1988), an updated cover version of the Fleetwoods song that beautifully blends the past into the present.  Montreal-based culture critic and feminist writer-director Durga Chew-Bose has made a lusciously beautiful remake of the 1958 Otto Preminger film by the same title steeped in operatic melodrama, now updated to contemporary times through an understated, minimalist lens, but with mixed results, as she attempts to accentuate the complexity of the relationships between the women, capturing how they observe and influence one another in subtle, often unspoken ways, and how they wield influence over one another’s fates, creating a storyline revolving around underlying motives, existential dilemmas, and the hedonism of the privileged French bourgeoisie, reflective of Sagan’s own upbringing and background.  This film explores jealousy, love, and breaking trust in spectacular fashion, intentionally eliminating the voiceover narration so prominent in the Preminger version, instead letting the camera discreetly observe, relying upon the performances to convey emotion, where the heaviness of silence hangs in the air like low-lying fog, while the surrounding luxury can choke off any possibility for growth, as the shallow, indulgent lifestyle shields characters from adult reality.   

The rich emotional density of this film resembles Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope (2024), where the opulent grandeur of the sumptuous imagery is most pronounced, both set against the idyllic backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea, seemingly inspired by the fleetingness of beauty and youth, where the sensuality on display is nothing less than stunning, where the striking look of the film supersedes the thin character development that only hints at something deeper.  With an updated screenplay adapted by Chew-Bose, writing a coming-of-age story with a jagged center, set in the sun-drenched south of France locale that is perfectly rendered, where you can literally feel the sun against your skin, at the center of the picture is Cécile (Lily McInerny), an American college student studying in Paris, a spirited young girl navigating the complexities of adolescence along with her charming but indulgent widowed father, Raymond, played by Danish actor Claes Bang, the selfish lady-killing womanizer in Ruben Östlund’s The Square (2017), and before that a one-night stand in Pernille Fischer Christensen’s A Soap (En Soap) (2006).  Cécile is a liberated female character that is youthful and disillusioned beneath a veneer of sophistication and wit, driven by self-destructive attitudes and behaviors as she navigates the complexities of love, sex, apathy, and existential angst without moral judgment in the treacherous world of languorous ennui.  Jean Seberg’s character in Godard’s iconic Breathless (À Bout de Souffle) (1960) is a continuation of her amoral role in Preminger’s earlier version of Cécile, but in this film, she is less the heartless manipulator of Preminger’s adaptation and more of a conflicted teenager, where there’s a difference between a potential sociopath and just a confused girl.  The pair are enjoying a carefree summer together, reveling in the warmth of the Mediterranean sun, while sharing their experience with Raymond's latest romantic interest, the captivating but much younger professional dancer Elsa (Naïlia Harzoune), closer in age to Cécile, who splits her time with them in a bohemian, gender-inverted JULES AND JIM (1962) scenario and her boyfriend Cyril (Aliocha Schneider).  What immediately stands out is the sound of Raymond’s voice, as it sounds so similar to the smarmy voice of LOLITA’s James Mason, so morally smug and egotistical, evoking the meditative calmness of a relaxation tape with every self-righteous word, where it’s just hard to root for a guy like this, as his philandering lifestyle is the epitome of wealth and privilege, apparently squandering his life in decadence, moving from one lover to the next, setting a questionable example for his daughter.  However, it’s important to note that beneath the shallow surface of pseudo-profound dialogues lies a subtle degree of sophisticated depth and complexity, as we witness a young woman’s journey into self-definition through her psychological development, but it’s not as plain to see as the stunning beauty of the French Riviera where the film is shot, instead the film highlights the conflict between Cécile’s quest for personal freedom and the emotional impact of her actions on others.  Also, the title, which comes from the opening lines of a Paul Èluard poem published in 1932 (Barely Disfigured by Paul Eluard - Famous poems), translates to Hello Sadness, suggesting an exploration of the opposite of happiness, so the stunning beauty of the Côte d’Azur can be deceiving.  Seemingly living in a world of bliss, where everything feels so right, Raymond alters the balance by inviting an old friend, a celebrated American-born, Paris-based fashion designer Anne (Chloë Sevigny, an inspired choice, given an expanded presence, seen recently in a Charli xcx - 360 (official video) YouTube, 4:24), a godmother to Cécile and best friend of her deceased mother, where the three of them once went everywhere together, the living picture of their own carefree youth decades ago.

Anne’s arrival upsets the perfect symmetry of Cécile’s summer, happily leading a carefree existence, doing whatever she pleases at any given moment, but the more thoughtfully reserved and calculating Anne always has a watchful eye on her, coming from a more serious world where things have consequences, assuming a more firmly grounded parental role that Cécile simply doesn’t appreciate, immediately growing resentful, perceiving her as a threat to her freedom, plunging Cécile into jealousy, admiration, and uncertainty, forcing her to grapple with her own identity.  Unlike Cécile and her father, Anne’s character brings a certain gravitas, coming from a high-profile world of creating art where she had no time for relationships, a life defined by hard work, intelligence, and a well-organized outlook, and though she’s chic, sophisticated, and refined, sharing her fashion sense with Cécile, she is considerably less free-spirited than the original trio, which is why they are all flabbergasted when Raymond announces they are engaged to be married, causing Elsa to flee while leaving Cécile furiously incensed.  Raymond and Anne seem happy and in love, though it all sounds a bit soap opera-ish, with Cécile craving her father’s undivided attention, as she resists conformity and order but longs for the certainty of emotional stability, wanting to be seen as a person in her own right making her own decisions, but is frightened to relinquish her dependency, secretly devising a plan to break up the marriage, relying upon deception and devious motives.  Despite the south of France setting, there’s very little French dialogue, with the characters speaking English most of the time, which feels like an abrupt shock, as if something isn’t quite right, while Anne also transforms Raymond’s behavior into something more conventional, no longer the rich playboy succumbing to his libertine desires, avoiding that “easy life” to which he has been accustomed to for so many years.  Apparently stealing away that free-spirited side of her father that Cécile loves so much feels like the ultimate betrayal, where it all plays out under the surface with a few added twists and surprises.  Perhaps it’s the feeling like American actress Lily McInerny is in over her head, as she never has the same dramatic screen presence as the others, feeling more shallow and immature, like she’s just a kid.  The melodramatic dovetail the film takes isn’t exactly a shocker, as she intervenes tragically in a love triangle involving her father, which is carefully planned ahead of time and stealthily executed, but jolts her into a new reality of dangerously unexpected surprises, and only afterwards realizes she’s taken things much too far, with Anne never realizing she was the target of a malicious scheme, but it’s now too late to do anything about it.  A special bond undeniably exists between a father and daughter, yet how unfortunate that the only love she knew at the time was “possessive” love, wanting to possess the unrivaled love of her father who barely even knew the meaning of the word himself.  The fear of having to share that love with his fiancée, Anne, a woman who is a much more controlling presence, leads to disastrous results, succumbing to an Iago-like game of cruel deception, never fully understanding the damage she is causing until it is too late, leaving her disgusted with herself for her own dishonesty, eventually filled with self-loathing, which brings an end to her carefree life, resulting in a permanent and more haunting sense of sadness.  While the central relationship appears to be between Cécile and Raymond, there’s a curious lack of interest in Raymond’s role in all this, where his irresponsible behavior is never scrutinized and instead viewed as predictable male carousing, yet in this version a deeper truth emerges between Cécile and Anne, offering a belated awareness of Anne’s idea of building a new family.  Tinged with melancholy and regret afterwards, this captures the rebelliousness and naiveté of youth, revealing a world where fantasy and tragedy are interlinked. 

Magic in the Moonlight

MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT         B-                  

USA  (97 mi)  2014  ‘Scope  d:  Woody Allen             Official site

After a brief return to the United States with the brilliant aberration that was 2013 Top Ten List #7 Blue Jasmine, Woody returns to his earlier form of making lighthearted, fair to middling films, insulated again from the world around him, writing exclusively for the super affluent, where the extravagance of their luxuriated lifestyle may as well be his reason for living these days, as he hones in on the life of the 1%, alienating a good portion of his audience that find these films little more than escapist fantasy.  From ANNIE HALL (1977) to MELINDA AND MELINDA (2004), Allen’s characters bore some resemblance to real life, showing a distinct preference for the intellectual middle to upper class of New York.  But all that changed with MATCH POINT (2005), one of his most commercially successful films of the decade, moving the setting to the moneyed upper class of London, capturing the places and lifestyles of the super rich where Allen continually shoots in luxurious mansions and upscale hotels as he moves through the British aristocracy, shooting his next films in idyllic European locations.  This time Allen is back in the south of France, set on the Côte d’Azur in 1928, the same period alluded to in Midnight in Paris (2011), beautifully shot by Darius Khondji, accentuating the delightfully sun-drenched afternoons where the idle rich sit around as everyone is overly pampered and catered to, living in mammoth estates, where it all plays out like a dream, written for people that live in a penthouse.  All that aside, however, this is yet another Hollywood film casting a leading man old enough to be the leading lady’s father, where the viewer also has to take into account the Woody Allen factor, as he was 56 when he entered into a romantic relationship with his 19-year old stepdaughter Soon-Yi Previn (though not legally married to Mia Farrow at the time), eventually getting married 6-years later, claiming the relationship is still going strong after 17 years and helped him end 37 years undergoing psychoanalysis.  This follows a long Hollywood tradition, as Colin Firth is 53 to Emma Stone’s 25.  Humphrey Bogart was 44 to Lauren Bacall’s 19 when they met on the set of TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944), marrying two years later, while in SABRINA (1954), Bogart was 54 to Audrey Hepburn’s 24.  So at some point the viewer has to come to terms with Woody being Woody, as he stopped casting himself opposite beautiful young actresses, but his feelings for much younger women, perhaps most perfectly reflected in MANHATTAN (1979), haven’t changed a bit.   

Following another Allen tradition, this is another film in love with its musical soundtrack, featuring plenty of “hot jazz” from the 20’s, though some of the popular songs were written “after” the period in question, nonetheless Allen has been jamming this music down the audience’s throat literally for decades.  This film prominently features jazz renditions by cornetist Bix Beiderbecke (who died at age 28 in the early 30’s), while Ute Lemper appears briefly as a period version of herself singing a traditional Berlin cabaret song, “It's All a Swindle (Alles Schwindel)” (1931) Ute Lemper - It's All a Swindle - YouTube (4:11), which is the actual theme for this film, making a much better title, as this one continually gets mixed up with the King Harvest hit song “Dancing in the Moonlight,” Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest - YouTube (2:53).  But enough on that.  The film pays tribute to one of Allen’s childhood loves, as he was a magic buff and amateur magician, opening the film with Colin Firth playing Stanley, stage name Wei Ling Soo, a celebrated London illusionist (in yellowface and long Fu Manchu moustache) who makes an elephant disappear before an adoring crowd.  Based on 19th-century Brooklyn born magician William Robinson (aka Chung Ling Soo), who was a Houdini-like stage presence, eventually undone by his failure to catch a fatal bullet during a live performance.  Robinson maintained his faux Chinese identity, never spoke onstage, and used an interpreter whenever he spoke to journalists.  He was the author of the book Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena (1898), which exposed the tricks of psychic slate writing, a practice of producing written words without consciously writing them, words supposedly arisen from a spirit or supernatural force, exposing a number of devices that fraudulent mediums use to pretend to contact the world of the dead.  Oddly enough, that is the subject of the film, as Stanley is approached backstage by a fellow illusionist Howard (Simon McBurney), who turns to his childhood friend as he is the ultimate authority on debunking sham mystics of all sorts, “from the séance table to the Vatican and beyond.” 

Howard has been in contact with a wealthy Pittsburgh industrial family living in the south of France, where the lady of the house (Jacki Weaver) is being fleeced by a mysterious young American clairvoyant, Sophie Baker (Emma Stone), with claims that she can contact her dead husband, while her grown son Brice (Hamish Linklater) is romantically smitten by the young lady, continually wooing her with poetry and love songs.  Despite his best attempts, certain she is a scam artist, Howard has been unable to expose her as a fraud.  Stanley never met a challenge he couldn’t resist and rises to the occasion, thinking of it as little more than a much needed vacation in the Côte d’Azur, passing himself off as some unscrupulous businessman named Taplinger, certain he will expose this sham artist before the night is done, already making evening plans after dinner.  Sophie is living on the grounds of the estate with her mother (Marcia Gay Harden), where she’s quick witted, but also something of a scatterbrain with something always catching her attention, taking Stanley by surprise when she psychically reveals things about himself that no one else knows.  All his brass and bluster are thrown off track, normally demonstrating an air of invincibility, driven by his super-sized male ego, where he can’t pin down her secrets, concluding “A pretty face never hurt a cheap swindler,” but he’s certainly beguiled by her feminine charm and enthusiastic zest for living, inviting her to join him on a visit to Province with his battle hardened Aunt Vanessa, Eileen Atkins in her best performance since Altman’s Gosford Park (2001).  Atkins is the surprise of the film, where she’s the real deal, adding plenty of spit and polish to her own character, always two or three steps in front of Stanley, wise beyond her years, and quite taken by Sophie as well.  The enjoyment of the film is playing along with the game, figuring out —Is she or is she not a fake?  Is it or is it not love? — and seeing how it all plays out, where it’s Aunt Vanessa who seems like the clairvoyant one.  Perhaps the real key to Allen’s success these days is providing such terrific acting, which has become a staple in Woody Allen films, where everyone in the business wants to work with him.  While it’s old-fashioned and well-mannered, where everyone has to play by the rules of erudite politeness, Colin Firth never talked so much in a film, taking on the Woody Allen persona of an incessant talker, turning to mush and mindless chatter after awhile, quite a contrast to the pompous arrogance of his character.  Perhaps the most obvious comparison are the seemingly mismatched lovers from Allen’s own A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), where the bombastic egotistical hubris of José Ferrar as Leopold finally meets his match in Dulcy, Julie Hagerty, a free-spirited nurse chosen purely at random.  In both cases, love ensues, or is it the illusion of love?