Bonjour Tristesse             3 stars

I ran across first time director Burga Chew-Bose’s Bonjour Tristesse in the theater and was interested in seeing it since Chloe Sevigny is one of the actors in the movie. This new film is a remake of the 1958 Otto Preminger movie by the same name and is based on a 1954 novel. It is set in the beautiful location of a vacation house in the south of France on the Mediterranean. There we find a quartet of characters enjoying leisure time that includes middle aged Raymond (Claes Bang), his young lover, Elsa (Nailia Harzoune), Raymond’s teenage daughter, Cécile (Lily McInerny) and teenage neighbor Cyril (Aliocha Schneider), who Cécile likes to hang around with, while going through her own sexual awakening. Young Cécile also likes having Elsa around. The movie is filled with colorful scenes using the locale effectively and long slow interactions between the characters. For some reason there seems to be an excessive amount of cigarette smoking going on for a movie set in the present. They mostly spend a nice, tranquil time together; that is, until Anne (Sevigny) makes her appearance. Anne is a fashion designer and an old family friend of Raymond and his deceased wife, who died many years before. The dynamic of the various relationships immediately changes as it becomes clear that Anne is the one in charge and is domineering over Raymond and Cécile. The tension between Cécile and Anne can be felt to increase dramatically, it being clear that Cécile is unhappy with the situation. It doesn’t take long until Anne is often telling Cécile what to do and Elsa is out of the picture, with Anne and Raymond soon becoming engaged. The feelings of anger and jealousy are portrayed well, but the audience has to fill in the blanks using their imagination as certain key events take place off screen. This style I find to be frustrating as I suspect other people do as well. The story loses credibility with me as Cecile manipulates the adults well beyond what seems to be reasonable for a teenage girl (at least to me, it would be interesting to find out what others think.). I left feeling disappointed, feeling that the movie gets points on style and acting, especially for Sevigny, but is lacking in storytelling. I felt the writer was manipulating the audience, just like Cécile was doing.