Cert PG
90 mins
BBFC advice: Contains mild sex references
Every time I watch a movie such as Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse I believe that I was born at the wrong time.
My first few years in the 1960s still flicker in the recesses of my memory as a time of simple joy.
Mrs W thinks I have rose-tinted spectacles and she is probably right. To have a really good time back in the 50s and 60s people would have needed to be rich.
Certainly, in Bonjour Tristesse, there are no electric blankets, pools of condensation at the bottom of the windows or dads with their feet in a bowl (what was that all about?).
I digress. Preminger's restored movie is an icon of chic with Jean Seberg wearing short hair more sexily than any woman has ever worn it.
Alongside her are a gaggle of good-looking suitors and her father David Niven whose only creases are on his forehead.
Seberg plays Cecile, the spoiled Parisienne daughter of a rich playboy (Niven) who has a young fun floozy (Mylene Demongeot) in tow.
However, he hankers after a more stable other half and sees the chance in his ex-wife's upstanding best friend (Deborah Kerr).
The problem is that she wants to bring Cecile into line and the latter builds dark resentment against her.
The action of Preminger's melodrama moves between the hotspots of Paris (filmed in black and white) and their gorgeous beachside home (filmed in colour).
However, I use the word 'action' in the loosest possible sense because not a lot happens in Bonjour Tristesse and, while it looks great, it is a victory for style over substance by a wide margin.
And, while Seberg's impish performance is memorable, neither Niven nor Kerr are pushed very hard.
Yes, there is a melancholy surrounding the 'ennui' which pervades the film, despite it being about people who are supposed to have everything. However, its plot is not especially memorable.
Nevertheless, to conjure of the joy of France in the 50s, it ticks the box.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 6/10