Bonjour Tristesse

Otto Preminger directed this study of rich people with too much time in their hands. Party, party, party! Dance the night away! Take a break and visit the casino! It is all too, too frantic, and there wasn’t a single person I gave a damn about. The title means, sort of, “Hello Sadness,” and Jean Seberg narrates it, letting us know ahead of time that this madcap whirl is going to end in tears. Surprise! The only thing of interest, to me, was that the “present day” parts are black and white, and the flashbacks are in glorious saturated Technicolor. Lovely locations on the French Riviera, but unless you really dig fancy villas and fine clothes of the ‘50s, and unless that’s enough for you, I would not recommend this tiresome story. I turned it off halfway through.