# Bonjour Tristesse (2024 film)

Bonjour Tristesse is a 2024 coming-of-age romantic drama film starring Chloë Sevigny, Lily McInerny and Claes Bang. It is an adaptation of the 1954 novel by Françoise Sagan. It is adapted and directed by Durga Chew-Bose in her feature length directorial debut.
The film premiered in the Discovery program at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

## Synopsis

Cécile (McInerny), and her widowed father Raymond (Bang) are spending the summer in the south of France with his latest flame, Elsa (Harzoune). However, the equilibrium is disrupted with the arrival of Anne (Sevigny), who is an old friend of Cécile’s parents.

## Cast

* Chloë Sevigny as Anne
* Claes Bang as Raymond
* Lily McInerny as Cécile
* Naïlia Harzoune as Elsa
* Aliocha Schneider as Cyril
* Nathalie Richard

## Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews.
In The Hollywood Reporter, Caryn James wrote: "The first film by writer-director Durga Chew-Bose, its story of adolescent longing, jealousy and sexual awakening, updated here to the present, is always glorious to look at — from the brightly colored floor tiles to the glittering water. But once you’re inside, its emotional trajectory is curiously flat, even though the cast includes two usually vibrant actors, Claes Bang and Chloë Sevigny."
IndieWire's Kate Erbland graded the film a "B", writing: "While remakes can feel, by their very nature, like the worst kind of retread (to say nothing of remakes of things first made in another medium), Chew-Bose’s directorial debut is a sharp offering that adds to the mystique of the original material and makes a strong case for its own existence."
On RogerEbert.com, Marya E. Gates wrote: "Naïlia Harzoune is a wonder as Raymond’s current lover Elsa, her passion infusing the film with its sole sense of energy or life. Although the character is more reserved by design, Chloë Sevigny as Ann, the best friend of Cécile’s late mother and Raymond’s soon-to-be new lover, gives the film’s best performance. Behind her reserve is a scathing caustic wit, one that makes you think and laugh. It’s a pity, then, that the leisurely pace hampers the escalation of emotions all three women feel, ending the film with a whimper rather than a bang. I’m sure the lowkey tone will work for some viewers, but for me, despite the beautifully rendered summer heat, the film ultimately left me cold."

## Production

Film Constellation are selling distribution rights to the contemporary adaptation written and directed by Durga Chew-Bose. Producers of the project include Babe Nation Films’ Katie Bird Nolan and Lindsay Tapscott for whom it took three years to secure rights to the novel, and for whom it had been a seven year project prior to the commencement of shooting. Also producing are Elevation Pictures’ Noah Segal and Christina Piovesan, Wolfgang Mueller and Benito Mueller of Barry Films and Cinenovo’s Julie Viez. Executive producers are Fabien Westerhoff for Constellation Productions, Suzanne Court, and Françoise Sagan’s son Denis Westhoff. Principal photography got underway in Cassis in the South of France in May 2023.

## Release

Elevation Pictures, which co-financed Bonjour Tristesse, will release the film in Canada. In December 2024, Greenwich Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights, planning to release the film sometime in the summer of 2025. The film was also sold to independent distributors in Spain, Portugal, MENA, the CIS, former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and airlines, with Universal Pictures acquiring rights to the rest of the world.