SamLowry wrote:I've been campaigning for Bonjour Tristesse for some time.
I don't get all the love it gets on this forum. I found the acting (especially Jean Seberg's) subpar, and the plot & writing more contrived than in many other similarly themed films (Darling, any of Fellini's...). There are many Premingers that are much more deserving. My vote would go to Porgy & Bess which just got added to the National Film Registry (& hopefully a new print developed for the occasion?) and has never been issued on home video, but I'd settle for Laura, Advise & Consent or The Man With The Golden Arm.
The chance to see Preminger's most meticulously composed and beautifully shot film (on the Riviera no less!) in a new high-definition transfer is reason enough for me, but the reasons you cite for not liking the film are exactly why it cries out for the kind of contextualization that Criterion provides. Many of Preminger's best films are almost entirely about their mise-en-scene, and
Bonjour Tristesse is no exception. The "contrived" plot and writing that you speak of strike me more as bald-faced melodrama -- exactly the kind that I would expect to be concocted by a 17-year-old. In Preminger's hands though, it's about isolation and how even those closest to us are often unknowable. This is all conveyed through camera and character movement. The criticism of young Seberg's performance is a common one, but I find that the uncomfortable stiffness of her delivery has a charm of its own and "works" within the context of the film. At any rate, a commentary by someone like Chris Fujiwara or
Fred Camper is absolutely essential for this film. Supplements about Francoise Sagan and the great Bass titles seem essential too.
I love all of the Preminger films that you mention, but unlike
Laura,
Advise & Consent, and
The Man With the Golden Arm,
Bonjour Tristesse doesn't have an in-print Region 1 disc available. The discs of those films are pretty well-appointed for the most part already. Two of them are Warner properties, and I don't see their nascent relationship with Criterion going that deep yet. They're also films that are more easily appreciable on a surface level, and seem less "necessary" to me. As for
Porgy and Bess, I've never seen it, and am desperate to. I have no idea whether it's a "Criterion worthy" title or not. For now, I'd be happy with a rescue of the ailing materials and theatrical tour.
Bonjour Tristesse has always been a divisive film. It's a magical one for me, but I wouldn't begin to know how to convey that magic to others, and I don't really have any desire to make its detractors like it. I am hopeful that a thorough Criterion treatment might help it to get the deeper appreciation (even if only an academic one) that I feel it deserves.