Sagan’s “Bonjour Tristesse” centres around, a 16 year old girl who is on a summer vacation at the French Riviera with her father and and the events that unfolded. The book begins with the idle 16 year old basking in the pleasure of summer- filled with fleeting moments of love, sunshine and laughter with her father. Even in the first few pages, it is difficult for the reader to not view Cecile as spoilt, pampered and oblivious to the sorrows and complexities of life. It’s easy to see how she’s trapped in a bubble of money, privilege, and boredom that can only be afforded to the rich. Looking back (since the story is narrated in hindsight), Cecile remarks, “I dare say I owed most of my pleasures of that period to money” (p.19). Her lack of ambition, and her comfort with deriving happiness from superficial avenues seems troubling, at the very least. The fact that she is self-reflexive about these facets of the self provides some relief (at best) in the readers.
As a reader, I’m left to wonder whether it is Cecile’s boredom that leads her to meddling in her father’s marriage with Anne. Raymond (Cecile’s father), is written as a charismatic man, untethered by love and the like, who shocks everyone when he decides to marry his dead wife’s former friend Anne. The plot unfolds with Cecile devising an elaborate plan to break up the marriage before her family returns home to Paris. In many ways, the entire book is an articulation of the underlying reasons why Cecile becomes obsessed with breaking this marriage. It remains unknown whether it is her sacred relationship with her father, which exists in a bubble that she does not want to expand to include other people, or her own child-like (and confusing) encounters with love
Additionally, in part, she is motivated to break up the marriage due to Anne herself. Composed, calm and restricted, Anne is a force that is antonymous from her father and her lifestyles and ways of being. Anne is depicted as having a curious control over Cecile, which Cecile regards with equal parts fascination and caution. Anne and Cecile’s conversations in the book are some of the most intense scenes and capture an interesting intimacy. As as a reader, you wonder what lessons Cecile learns and resists from these strange but powerful interactions with Anne, and the ways in which it moulds her identity.
To conclude, the rhythm and flow of the book are tumultuous, with unexpected twists and moments that can allude to Cecile’s state of mind, and the ebbs and flows of her changing identity across the summer.
Astha Kumar
Food for thought:
Q. In what ways is Anne the villain in the book, and in what ways does she redeem herself from that status?