Bonjour Tristesse Reviews

Soapy Stuff from Seberg

I don't suppose many people have ever heard of this film, but it's well worth seeing , if only for the central performance of Jean Seberg. She plays a spoilt brat teenager who is holidaying on the French Riviera with her father (David Niven), a widower with a constant supply of young girlfriends. Into the mix comes Deborah Kerr, who tries to impose some discipline into the girl's life, after agreeing to marry Niven, with unhappy consequences. The film is well acted by Niven and Kerr, but Seberg is especially effective as the lovable/horrible teenager who realises too late her schemes can have unpleasant results. Beautifully photographed in CinemaScope, with some sequences in black and white, but mostly in ravishing Technicolor. Not to everyone's taste,this film will appeal to fans of 1950's Douglas Sirk or 'Peyton Place' type movies.

[Highly rated reviewer]

I'm not sure I liked it

You can admire that F Sagan wrote this book when she was a teen but the story is simple and the film has aged.

Jean Seberg's movie

Jean Seberg plays the part of a carefree and undisciplined rich kid holidaying in the south of France with her equally undisciplined playboy father David Niven. The film is shot in black and white for the unhappy times and colour for her happy life. In the colourful life is Elsa, a pretty but dull girlfriend of her father’s. The story comes from a book of the same title by a 17-year old, which might explain the simplicity of the storyline. All in all an interesting film

[Highly rated reviewer]

Jean Seberg's movie

Jean Seberg plays the part of a carefree and undisciplined rich kid holidaying in the south of France with her equally undisciplined playboy father David Niven. The film is shot in black and white for the unhappy times and colour for her happy life. In the colourful life is Elsa, a pretty but dull girlfriend of her father’s. The story comes from a book of the same title by a 17-year old, which might explain the simplicity of the storyline. All in all an interesting film

Customer Review

The use of black and white versus colour to reflect the desert of her present life compared to her previous golden existence is notable, true. The story is simple, almost simplistic, and the film joggles because of the alternately stiff or almost sing-song delivery of lines. It shows more like a stage play than a film. But it's more the era in which the film was made rather than poor acting, I think. It's worthy, but still worth watching: Cecile as the gamine social butterfly is luminous and mesmerizing; Raymond as the feeble, immoral bon vivant, pathetic. The film, for all its faults, is rather better made and has more wistful charm and punch (cf. the final scene) than some of the drivel one pays to see in the cinema these days.

Crap

Bonjour tristesse is my all time favourite book and this film is nothing like it. So if you like the book do not watch this fim. If you haven't read the book your expectations won't be so high so maybe you'll find the film ok. I found the characters especially cecile unrealistic and i couldn't empathise with them. Cecile is supposed to be only 17 but the actress appears to be about 25. i wouldn't bother watching it i forced myself to watch it all the way through.

rubbish mot funny or nice

yes nice south of france and actors esp daughter of david niven -a sinful fun loving waster

who treats deborr ker -to be his wife -as just another women. to say anything to -she believes it and then over hears him with another women so she drives away and over the cliff-thats it -it ends on a sad lost note.

Tristesse? - just cinematic distress.

This really is abysmal, asinine, and embarrassing. The director has obviously instructed the main actors to represent frivolity and pointless pleasure; seeing David Niven wearing ultra tight shorts, smiling fixedly, moustache twitching, as he gambols around on the Riviera as an aging roue, irresistible to women, makes the eyes widen with horror. Incessant giggling and bare-footed prancing from all four main characters would be better placed in a teenage soap. The melodramatic theme of teenage angst, accompanied by theatrical techniques of overheard conversations whilst flitting through the forest & hiding behind inadequate trees, is completely uncompelling and trite. Bad. Truly and timewastingly poor. No wonder Deborah Kerr chose to drive off a cliff.