Rating of
2.5/4
Bonjour, Jean Seberg!
Allison - wrote on 12/17/07
a full and complete review (three and a half years in the making)
First rating 2/10
There are fewer things more enjoyable than a "new" or even a good "old" Jean Seberg movie. When I tried to see Bonjour Tristesse the first time, I found it appallingly cheesy and turned it off. I would read the book instead.
Book rating 8/10
I heard the book was racier anyway, and less vague when it came to the incestuous tones between the father and the daughter. I loved the book, but it was way more tame than I expected. A short, sweet novel written from boredom, it was almost anything I wanted or expected in a book.
Second rating 6/10
I wrote down in my schedule to try to catch this one again. Then I decided no. After all, I am not going to be seeing everything I wanted this month, due to time constraints. However, I went for it and I'm glad I did. The movie is in black and white, then unexplicably in color, back in B&W, then back in color, like Otto Preminger is either tripping on acid or limiting himself to color stock due to budget constraints.
Jean Seberg does many strange things in this movie, including clutching a teddy bear and sticking her tongue out in the mirror. She is pretty pleasant until Deborah Kerr (who is screwing her father) says Cecile (Seberg) may not kiss Philippe (her boyfriend) and that she should concentrate on her studies. D.K. also persuades Daddy (David Niven) that this is the way it's going to be. Therefore Jean goes psychotic and no more miss-nice-girl. She is supposed to be 17, is around 20, and is one of the only people that can get away with such a short haircut. It looks fantastic on her and Mia Farrow, but lesbo on everyone else.
Oh and yes, Jean had a million bathing suits, yellow, blue, red. I was like, who has so many bathing suits!?! And why were there so many swimming scenes? Ah, c'est la vie.
Other Francoise Sagan movies include La Chamade (Deneuve), Chabrol's Landru, and A Certain Smile (Fontaine, hard to track down, I still haven't).
