Describing
a film as pish[1] is
not very professional I concur, but with Otto Preminger's 1958's Bonjour
Tristesse it's the ideal use of the word! In this movie i have a
problem finding something positive to say except there are certainly some smart
cars, some very nice frocks and of cause the attractive Mylene Demongeot and technically
there is some decent cinematography, but even admitting this, bear in mind that
the DOP did have the Côte d'Azur and San Tropez to work with! There isn't much
of a story to be honest what there is is based on a novel by Francoise Sagan - albeit
a thin one – published in 1954 when the author was only 18.
 |
| "so many awful pretentious snobbish characters" |
What
we have is David Niven in his normal toffee nosed twat role as a middle aged
wealthy lothario with property in the South of France as well as Paris who has
a seriously strange relationship with his daughter played by Jean Seberg. Most
of the inaction takes place on the French coast in a large villa which father
and daughter share with Daddy's latest squeeze (Demongeot) that is until father
invites an old friend of his dead wife played by Deborah Kerr to make it four
sharing. Tensions rise, squeeze is jealous because her fun life style and
prospective nest egg could evaporate, daughter, a spoilt brat, hates
prospective wife because this will come between father and daughter and her free
wheeling life style. Even smarmy playboy Niven is not sure if he should marry Kerr,
as he will have to stop having sexual affairs with much younger women. Oh dear I'm not sure how it is possible to
have so many awful pretentious snobbish upper class characters in one story
line, but credit where credit due this story has achieved just that! Reality is
not a word you would use to describe this sluggish melodrama. Believe it or not
there were some critics that gave the film a positive review but the BFI’s appraisal
did not hold back: "The best performance is David
Niven’s; he gives his part a pathetic touch that the writing never attains.
Jean Seberg, who speaks rather than acts her lines, turns in the least
effective performance. Bonjour Tristesse is an elegant, ice cold, charade of
emotions, completely artificial and eventually torpid."[2] I would suggest unless you’re a complete
masochist then give this movie a very wide berth.
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