Bonjour Tristesse

Synopsis: Teen girl spends the summer in the South of France. She likes her dad’s houseguest; then she doesn’t.

What does buttered toast mean? It means something in Bonjour Tristesse beyond its tastiness. Help me solve the mystery of the buttered toast motif…

Bonjour Tristesse is an arthouse film about a girl, Cécile (Lily McInery), who is suffering from teen ennui. She’s suffering while spending a bougie summer on France’s Mediterranean Coast, near Cassis. Cécile is gamine with a heart-shaped face and big brown eyes, like a Snowy Owl. She appears a bit uncertain of herself, but game for new experiences. Her dad, Raymond (Claes Bang), has them set up in a luxe house on the shore. He seems to be unemployed but has a large income–typical of the characters in Europe-set arthouse flicks. Raymond looks like a Danish Clive Owen. He’s hedonistic and a permissive parent. Father and daughter share ciggies and play solitaire together. When apart, Raymond lolls arounds with his young girlfriend, Elsa (Naila Harzoune), a bohemian dancer. Cécile sails the coast with her rich summer fling, teen Cyril (Aliocha Schneider).

The days pass by lazily, with a dreamy sameness. In one scene, Raymond wants to read aloud to Elsa but she dissuades him, saying it’s a pleasure only for the reader. Having made their way to the world’s rockiest beach, Cécile searches for shells. Good luck! Any shells pushed towards the shore would be pummeled to smithereens by the tennis ball sized rocks. Elsa tells Raymond that Cécile is practicing to be ‘seen.’ Raymond takes a drag from his cig.

Back at the house, it happens… Cécile toasts a thick slice of bread and rubs a whole stick of butter across the toasted bread until it sits half an inch high. Voila, buttered toast. Does this signify that she must nourish herself because her father is not nurturing? Or maybe she is taking after her luxury seeking father with her excessive consumption of the pleasures of creamy indulgences.

One day Raymond announces to Elsa and Céline that they will be joined by Anne, his late American wife’s close friend. Anne, Raymond and Céline’s mom met years ago when they were all ‘crazy about fashion.’ They went on to work in the industry–well, not Raymond, who is a committed poseur. As soon as he muses that “it might be nice to have a fourth person around,” we know that it won’t be. Especially since Raymond has described Anne as ‘having a strong point of view.’

Anne arrives. She’s played by Chloë Sevigny, so we know that things are about to get interesting. Cécile takes a break from snogging Cyril at the beach –he looks like a slight Paul Mescal–so we know that she must be eager to meet Anne. Anne, immaculately dressed with her icy blond hair twisted into a glossy chignon, is pleasant, but self-contained. A successful fashion designer, she gives Cécile a bespoke dress.

A few days desultory days pass by enjoyably. Well, not for Elsa. She doesn’t like how Raymond, Cécile and Anne play cards, content in their little circle. While Elsa huffs about, Anne glides along. She doesn’t need to charm her hosts, her past bond with the missing wife/mother is magnetic.

One morning, the women have brekkie al fresco, sitting silently, eating apples. While Céline and Elsa break their bites off with their teeth, Anne uses a knife to adeptly slice the fruit.  I think this symbolizes Anne’s skill in navigating life with skill and grace. Or maybe she just likes knives. When Elsa whinges about not sleeping well, Anne says, “You strike me as a person who has no trouble sleeping.” Oh! Point, set & match, Anne. Most importantly, we see how she has Céline’s best interests at heart when the teen wants to skimp on brekkie, having just fruit and coffee: she tells her she should have buttered toast.

Raymond continues reveling in doing nothing much. But Anne does like it when Raymond reads to her, unlike a certain someone named Elsa.

Cécile likes hearing Anne’s stories about her mom and is flattered that Anne asks her to look through her fashion sketches and give her opinion. But then Anne makes a mistake. In front of Raymond, Anne asks Cécile about her fall school exams. Anne levelly states that the girl should be studying for them. Cécile is speechless. That night, all a-twitter, she asks her dad why Anne would say such a thing!  Raymond gives her a jaded grin and assures her that he’s not going to tell her what to do or what not to do. This is exactly the sort of thing I would expect of Raymond, both because he is lazy and because he is philosophically committed to a Raymond-centered world.

Cécile’s young heart begins to harden against Anne and her adult perspective. She’s especially alarmed because she suspects, correctly, that Anne doesn’t think she should be with Cyril, having sex on the beach (literally, not the alcoholic drink, Sex on the Beach). Anne dumbly thinks that she needs guidance about protection and managing the emotions of an intense first love. She’ll show Anne! Cécile marches over to Cyril’s villa, slides into his bed and awakens him with sex.

Meanwhile, things are heating up back at Céline’s, where Raymond is making moon-y eyes at Anne and dodging Elsa.

I was afraid that Cécile would go from peeved to spiteful. But I also felt sorry for her with no mom, sis or auntie to give her guidance. Cécile finds herself on the fence, as it were. While she likes breezy Elsa, she was warming to Anne whose said she’d like to get to know her better. Warm, but cool Anne, as she’s told her dad. And she’s given her things to think about like this: Dandelion seeds are design miracles. Also, she’s advised the teen to not spend all day in a wet swim suits. This is good advice to prevent a yeast infection.

Oh, the pity– if only Cécile could just be a normal teen, spending night and day on her cell phone, putting actual human relationships to the side, all this potential trouble and heartache could be avoided.

Bonjour Tristesse is fairly plotless, but in the fall, back in Paris, we get a clue as to how/whom Cécile has decided to emulate… she and her dad wash their little terrier and talk about their late wife/mom. And Cécile makes herself some buttered toast. And it looks like she’s not using quite as much butter.

This all means something, and even though the movie is not that memorable, the motif of the buttered toast will continue to linger in my mind.

P.S. Bonjour Tristesse is based on the novel of the same name, written by French citizen Françoise Sagan in 1954 when she was just 18 y.o. The book was a hit and made into a movie in 1958, starring Jean Seberg, David Niven and Deborah Kerr.

Movie Loon’s Movie Review Shortcut:

Grade:   C+

Cut to the Chase:  The movie’s languid pace, sped up into melodrama that seemed dated. But I found myself admiring the performances, especially of Lily McInery as Céline. Here’s hoping she breaks out of playing teens.

Humor Highlight: Raymond’s whole louche vibe.