Adapting Françoise Sagan’s classic French novel, Durga Chew-Bose gives us Cécile (Lily McInerney), a young lady summering by the sea with her permissive father Raymond (Claes Bang) and his girlfriend Elsa (Naïlia Harzoune). It’s a happy trio until Anne (Chloë Sevigny) arrives; soon Raymond’s erotic interest shifts to her. The betrayal upsets Cécile more than it does Elsa, and our young protagonist hatches a plot to coax her father away from his new lover…
Bonjour Tristesse is Chew-Bose’s directorial debut, though you sure wouldn’t guess it from the grace and aplomb she displays. She captures the hazy torpor of summer beautifully, and her feel for pacing fits perfectly with the material. This is a story of a gradual awakening—of small revelations and subtle shifts—and it gets exactly the nuance it needs from its director. Sensuous, literate, and executed with the utmost delicacy, this film marks the arrival of a major talent.
Presented by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Lily McInerny, Claes Bang, Chloë Sevigny, Naïlia Harzoune, Aliocha Schneider
Canada/Germany
2024
In English and French with English subtitles
At International Village
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Denis Westhoff, Suzanne Court, Fabien Westerhoff, Emily Kulasa, Jesse Weening, Omar Chalabi
Producer
Katie Bird Nolan, Lindsay Tapscott, Christina Piovesan, Noah Segal
Screenwriter
Durga Chew-Bose
Cinematography
Maximilian Pittner
Editor
Amélie Labrèche
Production Design
François Renaud-Labarthe
Original Music
Lesley Barber
Durga Chew-Bose
Durga Chew-Bose was born in Montreal. She is the author of Too Much and Not the Mood, a book of essays, and has co-produced the films Shadowboxing (2010) and Mother’s Day (2011). Bonjour Tristesse (2024) is her debut feature.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Pictures of Ghosts
A companion piece to Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent, Pictures of Ghosts is a lovely, relaxed, ruminative riff on movies, memory, the imaginative space conferred by that place we call Cinema, seasoned with love and boundless anecdotes.
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
The Nutcracker at Wethersfield
Back in the long, dark Covid winter of 2020, there was no way the New York City Ballet could mount their traditional Christmas production of Tchaikovsky's fairytale. But choreographer Troy Schumacher had a dream to save the show -- reimagining a classic.
North of Ourselves
In the depths of winter, two adventurers set out to cross Quebec from one end to the other on bike and skis, exploring its staggering geography and meeting its inhabitants (human and otherwise) along the way.
Dean Thiessen Plays Vince Guaraldi + Charlie Brown
In 1965 jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi created the perfect soundtrack to Charles Schultz's beloved Peanuts. Dean Thiessen's 5-tet pays tributes to Guaraldi's catchy tunes, followed by a screening of the first Charlie Brown feature film.
It's a Wonderful Life
Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. This Christmas classic is whimsical, sure, but it has the depth to stand up to multiple watches, and it really should be a communal experience, because that is what it's about.