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The Film
Holidaying on the French Riviera, widower and playboy Raymond (Niven) begins to develop a relationship with staid Anne (Kerr). His manipulative daughter Cécile (Seberg), fearing her behaviour will be curtailed, conspires to come between them, with tragic results...
Shot on location by Georges Périnal (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp) in an innovative mixture of colour and black-and-white photography, Bonjour Tristesse was a favourite film of nouvelle vague filmmakers François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, with the latter casting Seberg in his debut feature, Breathless.
Video
Well made, well acted but depressing tale of a vapid father (David Niven), daughter (Jean Seberg) and father's mistress (Mylene Demongeot) and their interactions with a very insecure woman (Deborah Kerr) who comes to holiday with them (a friend of Niven's late wife).
It looks gorgeous being shot primarily in vivid fifties colour and CinemaScope but the tale becomes obvious it's going to end depressingly fairly quickly and the characters hold no appeal whatsoever. From the booklet:Bonjour Tristesse was sourced from Sony’s 4K restoration. The film’s original mono soundtrack was remastered at the same time.After some vividly coloured opening credits the film begins on monochrome, representing the film's present, albeit with a slight brown bias which lends the feel of the image a warmer feel. These sections have deep black levels and supportive contrast.
The colour footage flashback is very typical studio produced 1950s colour; vivid primaries, rich colours across the board, everything just pops and delineation is excellent. Flesh tones range from pale (Deborah Kerr, Mylene Demongeot) to ruddy (Jean Seberg) and tanned (David Niven). Everything looks very vivid and summary. Black levels continue in the deep, dark, rich vein and contrast ensures that all the sun drenched skies, surfaces and highlights etc have plenty of detail and never blow out. Detail is generally very good but strongest in closeups and medium shots but this is the old CinemaScope so it can suffer a little in backgrounds. I saw no signs of CinemaScope mumps or distortions. Grain is fine and ever present occasionally course in some darker scenes and skies but mostly remains fine; always very filmic. Definition can get soft at times, mostly in opticals and transitions but it's rarely an issue. This looks about as good as can be expected for 1080p given the source ('A-').
1080p24 / AVC MPEG-4 / BD50 / 2.35:1 / 93:43
Audio
English LPCM 1.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Subtitles: English HoH
Sound is limited by being a vintage mono, with a flat range. It does its job very well though, this was a well-funded film. Dialogue is always clear, sound effects and score are well integrated and balanced. It's been well restored, I heard no signs of age related problems like pops and clicks. Mild hiss is evident but that's part of the analogue technology of the time. Hard of hearing subtitles are excellent and comprehensive ('B+').
Extras
Audio commentary by film historians Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme (2025)
Two pros take us through the film in detail covering the literary background with trivia on the production cast and crew. Presented in lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (48kHz, 192Kbps)
"Tristesse de Vivre: Geoff Andrew on Bonjour Tristesse" 2025 interview (21:52)
"A Charming Little Monster with Denis Westhoff" 2016 interview (13:48)
"A Good Bet: Jeremy Burnham Remembers Seberg, Niven, Preminger and Bonjour Tristesse" 2025 featurette using a 2017 interview (4:58)
We have film historian Andrew championing the film discussing it in terms of Preminger's oeuvre, where it sits in his career. Also covered: Preminger's fame and recognition in public, how the film resembles Eric Rohmer's work, the characters etc. Westhoff is the son of Françoise Sagan, author of the book on which the film is based and he essentially compares the book and the film and we get plenty of informtion on the scandal the book's 1954 publication. The late Burnham (1931-2020) who doesn't look at the interviewer nor the camera throughout his short piece, shares his brief memories of the production mainly dominated by how Preminger was a tricky bugger and initially treated Seberg badly until Niven threatened to walk off the film. The Andrew and Burnham pieces are presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with uncompressed English LPCM 2.0 stereo sound (48kHz, 16-bit) with no subtitle options. The Westhoff piece is in French with optional .english subtitles but is otherwise the same.
Isolated Music and Effects Track LPCM 1.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
What it says on the tin: Play the film sans any dialogue.
Theatrical Trailer (4:52)
Vintage promo presented in 1080p24 2.35:1 monochrome with uncompressed English LPCM 1.0 (48kHz, 16-bit). It's unusual in that it's a mix of behind the scenes footage showing the film being made and the set visited by Françoise Sagan and footage of an American man in Hollywood asking questions then answered by Sagan sat on location. Some scenes from the film on colour are also shown.
Bonjour Tristesse Image Gallery: Original Promotional Material (93 images)
Pretty chunky HD still gallery of promo shots.
40-page liner notes booklet with new essay by Peter Cowie, a piece on Françoise Sagan’s source novel and its transition to the big screen, a selection of archival materials on the film’s production, and overview of contemporary critical responses and film credits
The usual hardcopy companion to the fikm fronted by an excellent new essay by film historian Cowie.
Packaging
Not sent for review.
Overall
Powerhouse Films in the UK have released in Otto Preminger's 1958 film Bonjour Tristesse based on Françoise Sagan's 1954 novel. It's a lavishly appointed CinemaScope production and has been given an excellent 4K restoration and beautifully presented on this 1080p disc. Only an UHD BD with HDR would be a big step up. Extras are well chosen and supportive; a fine release, recommended ('B+').
| The Film: C+ |
Video: A- |
Audio: B+ |
Extras: A- |
Overall: A- |
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