Seduction, Control, and a Shift

Read Time:4 Minute, 48 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Bonjour Tristesse
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Genre: Drama, Romance
Year Released: 2024, 2025
Runtime: 1h 50m
Director(s): Durga Chew-Bose
Writer(s): Durga Chew-Bose
Cast: Lily McInerny, Chloë Sevigny, Claes Bang, Nailia Harzoune, Aliocha Schneider, Nathalie Richard, Mélodie Adda, Rosalie Charrier
Language: English and French with English subtitles
Where to Watch: on digital nationwide June 13, 2025

RAVING REVIEW: Watching a movie that understands restraint as a tool, not a limitation, is a quiet experience. This film keeps its punches tucked beneath the surface, letting atmosphere, performance, and suggestion do the heavy lifting. It’s a story where little is said outright, but everything—power shifts, emotional manipulation, quiet longings—can be found in a glance or a moment of silence. The tension simmers rather than boils, and the damage is all the more piercing when it does break.

Lily McInerny as Cécile steps into the spotlight with an almost effortless performance until you realize how much she’s doing without saying much. Spending the summer with her indulgent father and his newest companion, McInerny crafts a portrait of a character on the verge of womanhood, rebellion, and unraveling. What she conveys through stillness and subtle expression gives her role more weight than pages of dialogue ever could. She isn’t a misunderstood teen; she’s portraying someone aware of her control and unsettled by its limits.

That unstable summer is turned upside down by the arrival of a woman from the family’s past. Chloë Sevigny’s Anne brings a compelling complexity to this character—a poised figure who enters this world and refuses to be part of its chaos. Her approach is grounded, never showy, but carries an emotional heft that challenges everyone in the room. She offers structure to a space defined by avoidance and indulgence, but her refusal to play along only makes her more dangerous in the eyes of those used to getting their way.

This movie captures better than most how women observe and influence one another in subtle, often unspoken ways. The power struggles here aren’t loud; they’re strategic, and much of that is expressed through visual choices. Cinematographer Maximilian Pittner gives the audience enough space to feel like a voyeur—close enough to feel intimate, distant enough to keep us guessing.

Musically, the score takes on a meditative role. Lesley Barber’s work isn’t trying to direct emotion but to echo it. There’s no overbearing swell when something goes wrong, no cue to tell the audience how to feel. That restraint, again, is part of what makes the notes land harder.

While meant to offer contrast or escape, the romantic subplot involving Cyril (Aliocha Schneider) falls flat. It’s not that the performances are lacking, but the script doesn’t give their connection enough time or weight to resonate. The energy that could’ve been used to deepen the story’s core tension is spent on a relationship that fades almost as quickly as it arrives. It’s one of the few spots where the film seems unsure of its priorities.

Yet for its minor stumbles, what makes this film work is how confidently it occupies its world. It never rushes, never begs for attention. It trusts its characters, setting, and audience to do the work. And when it lands, it lands quietly but effectively—like a realization that hits too late to fix anything.

The film doesn't reach for grand statements or flashy reveals. Its biggest strength is that it allows itself to remain small in scale but big in implication. It focuses on the costs of passivity and the damage that can be done in the name of comfort. It’s about choices made in silence, consequences that arrive too slowly to be stopped.

There’s something brave in that kind of storytelling. It doesn’t dazzle; it lingers. It doesn’t shout; it echoes. And while it might not leave every viewer shaken, it leaves something behind. A moment, a glance, a choice. This is a reminder that the most destructive decisions often come from the calmest people.

This is more than just a calling card for a directorial debut—it’s a clear perspective statement. The tone, the pacing, and the aesthetics all point to a filmmaker interested in depth over spectacle, in subtle revelations rather than dramatic confrontations. Certainly, there’s room to grow, but the foundation is solid.

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[photo courtesy of GREENWICH ENTERTAINMENT]

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