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Filmed in two versions, one in French, one in English, this is the movie of the French novel by Francoise Sagan written when she was only eighteen. The novel was an overwhelming success in France at the time and has become a literary classic there since. The 1958 movie starred David Niven, Deborah Kerr and Jean Seberg. The opening and final scenes are in black-and-white and set in Paris, but the rest are in colour and set on the coast of the South of France. The title translates as 'Hello Saddness', and in the black-and-white scenes we learn that the heroine, seventeen-year-old Cecile (Seberg), though indulging in the worldly pleasures of the Parisian rich, is indeed plagued by a deep melancholy. The colour scenes take place at an earlier period, when Cecile and her wealthy widower father, Raymond (Niven), were enjoying a carefree holiday in a big villa right next to the Mediterranean. Raymond is a charming philanderer of forty who has installed a pretty but unintellignt young showgirl, Elsa, there as his girlfriend and playmate for Cecile. Cecile though, is wilful and spoilt,and has got into company with a young law student, Cyril. She does no revision for the school exams she has failed. Instead she and her father visit nightclubs and casinos and enjoy 'la bonne vie'. Of course a fly has to land in the oinment. Anne (Kerr), the best friend of Cecile's late mother, comes to stay at the villa. Raymond suddenly feels he is too old for young showgirls. Perhaps marriage to a woman of his own age will give his life the stability it needs? So he proposes to Anne, and young Elsa moves out to a hotel. Now Anne turns her attention to Cecile. She has to stay in and revise for her exams in the villa, no more nights on the town, no more dates with Cyril. To Cecile, Anne seems matronly and prudish and domineering. She already has Raymond firmly under her thumb. Too used to having her own way Cecile sulks and rails but she cannot thwart the commands of this older woman. Unless, of course.....A plan hatches in Cecile's mind, a plan to rid herself of Anne. But it backfires with horrific consequences. Cecile and her father are haunted by it, even after they they return to Paris and try to resume their 'bonne vie'. Life can never be the same again. Hence the title 'Hello Sadness'.Read full review
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