Bonjour Tristesse

Cecile, a precocious seventeen-year-old played effortlessly by Jean Seberg (Breathless), and her libertine father Raymond (David Niven) escape from Paris to their Mediterranean villa. Preminger contrasts the characters’ tristesse (‘sadness’) in a monochrome Paris with flashbacks to a luminous colour-filled summer in the Riviera. Happy to live the luxurious lifestyle they both crave, free from responsibility, the golden-skinned duo dedicate themselves to a life of free love, fast cars and hedonistic pleasures. However, when Raymond decides to marry, Cecile’s whimsical nature pushes her to lay down a path of destruction, affecting the lives of everyone involved.