Classic Movie Review: 'Bonjour Tristesse'

Bonjour Tristesse (1958)

Directed by Otto Preminger

Written by Arthur Laurents, Francoise Sagan

Starring Jean Seberg, Deborah Kerr, David Niven

Release Date February 1st, 1958

Published April 2025

Bonjour Tristesse stars Jean Seberg as Cecile, a coquettish teenager, bored with the life of luxury and seeking only the comfort of her father’s loving gaze. Though she calls him Raymond (David Niven), rather than dad, daddy, or father, it’s clear that their relationship is special to her. Since the death of her mother, Cecile has been the only consistent presence in Raymond’s life which mostly involves one boring, forgettable fling after another as he compensates for what I can only assume is grief.

Bonjour Tristesse unfolds in a flashback, not to the death of Cecile’s mother but a previous summer where it appeared that Cecile may have a new mother with deep emotional ties to her actual mother. From black and white in Paris cafes and nightclubs, the movie turns technicolor as we flashback to the French Riviera in summer. Father and daughter are living in a comfortable idyll in a seaside chateau. Along for the ride is dad’s latest conquest, Elsa, played with blunt charm by Mylene Demongeot.

The plot however, doesn’t arrive until Anne (Deborah Kerr) arrives. Anne was the best friend of Cecile’s mother and has a lengthy history with the family and, perhaps, with Raymond. When Anne finds out that she’s arrived at a time when Raymond has invited another woman to stay with them, her hurt betrays her intentions in joining this vacation. It’s clear she came here with a purpose that becomes immediately clear to Cecile. In short order, Anne wipes away the tears and gets into the swing of things. Before long, she and Raymond are flirting and Elsa is clearly on the way out.

At first, Cecile isn’t sure how she feels. On the one hand, she admires Anne, an independent woman of means and breeding. However, she shortly comes to resent her for seeming to have penetrated her bond with her father. When Cecile feels that she’s not getting enough attention from dear old dad, and that Anne is becoming pushy regarding boys and studying for the upcoming school year, Cecile takes it as a betrayal and sets about a plan to separate Anne from her father.

What gives Bonjour Tristesse its subversive vibe is the shameless exploration of the Jungian archetype of the Electra Complex. The Electra Complex is a reverse of Freud’s Oedipus Complex and defines the mother-daughter relationship as a competition for the love of the father. The father becomes the first model for what love is and many daughters will use their father as the measuring stick for what a loving relationship is. In Bonjour Tristesse, this father-daughter bond is fraught with grief. Having grown used to being treated like a substitute wife, minus the more intimate aspects of course, Cecile is deeply hurt and threatened when she believes that she’s been replaced.

This colors her motivations for the final act in which she sets about getting rid of Anne. The dynamic between Jean Seberg and Deborah Kerr throughout the film is a wonderful push and pull between a fully formed woman and a young, struggling girl, self-centered, cruel, but also grieving and vulnerable. She’s aware of her actions but she’s running far ahead of the potential consequences of her actions which will catch up to her, one way or another. Seberg wonderfully captures girlish confusion as well as the unearned confidence of a girl who believes she is already an adult woman.

Deborah Kerr is the picture of elegance in Bonjour Tristesse. The costume team of Hope Bryce and May Walding clearly had a ball dressing Ms. Kerr with elegant gowns and other high fashion touches. In a movie set on the French Riviera, few sights are as intriguing or beautiful as Deborah Kerr in full pomp. Kerr’s performance is relaxed though with a well-practiced grace. She’s a fully formed woman, a perfect foil for Seberg’s teenager struggling to develop who she is or wants to be. Their dynamic is at the heart of what makes Bonjour Tristesse a genuine classic.

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