“I live with melancholy
My friend is vague distress
I wake up every morning
And say, “Bonjour tristesse”
It is almost 3 o clock, which is too late to start anything or finish anything. I went camping last night with my best friends, and now it rain so persistently I’m staying in to watch films. (This won’t be a long post, as I’m getting weaker and weaker with post-camp fatigue)
For some reason, I felt the need to watch Bonjour Tristesse, a 1956 starring the delightful Jean Seberg. It’s the story of a 17-year old girl who spends her summer by the sea with her unconventional father, the themes are sort of: her naivety, her relationships with others, and ultimately how she will never be the same again after the final events.
So vague, but I don’t want to be all SPOILER! SPOILER! And also, YOU SHOULD SEE ME I REALLY LOOK AND FEEL LIKE SHIT
I read the book by Francoise Sagan before I saw the film, and the book is a lot, lot better- in my opinion. I read it last summer when I was on holiday in Greece, and could not believe me luck that I had picked an actual BEACH READ that wasn’t as tacky as the things you pick up in WHSmith in the airport, called something like Paradise Forever? and Flip Flop goes my Heart (obviously I suck at writing titles for fiction, and therefore fiction itself.
The book is super short, Sagan was only 18 when it was released and you can capture the reality within the way it’s been written- it could have happened to her (I don’t know if you’re still reading this Hey How you doin)
Some things for you to do now:
- Go to your library and seek this book out to imagine you’re in a hot country during your summer rather than curled up in your room on the laptop eating Wotsits
- Take a look at these paradisiacal stills from the film, with the blue skys and THAT PIXIE CROP:
(It isn’t a total feelgood summer film/book BTW, with the title ‘Hello sadness’ as you could probably guess. Don’t worry if you didn’t though, I do A Level French and had to look up ‘Tristesse’. I was pretty OK with Bonjour however.)
Bonjour beaucoup (ha ha ha) Tara X
