Youth, summer, beach. The costumes tell a story in Durga Chew-Bose's "Bonjour Tristesse"

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One of the things that struck maine portion watching “Bonjour Tristesse,” written and directed by the celebrated writer Durga Chew-Bose, was a feeling of being — and I don’t cognize however other to enactment it — tenderly haunted. Maybe it’s due to the fact that Chew-Bose is an aged person of excavation (we lived successful the aforesaid dorm our archetypal twelvemonth of college), and the tenderness that exists betwixt aged friends imbues their acquisition of each other’s art. But others person besides picked up connected the ethereal, captivating prime of her adaptation of the 1954 French caller of the aforesaid name, written by Françoise Sagan. The film’s satellite is luscious, tangible and hypnotic.

This hypnotism is particularly conveyed done the film’s costumes. Chew-Bose — whose tenure successful the manner manufacture arsenic managing exertion of SSENSE gave her a nuanced penetration into storytelling done apparel — worked with the renowned costume decorator Miyako Bellizzi (“Uncut Gems,” “The History of Sound”) connected the film. The effect of their collaboration is simply a sartorial aesthetic that feels someway extracurricular of time. The costumes are, connected the surface, contemporary: We spot an Adidas sweatshirt here, a clingy enactment formal there. We cognize we’re successful the contiguous moment, but definite details propulsion america backmost successful time. Kitten heels and afloat skirts, capri pants and tailored menswear, blouses with crisp collars and one-piece bathing suits consciousness little similar “now” and much similar “back then.”

Behind-the-scenes from "Bonjour Tristesse" by Durga Chew-Bose

Durga and I talked implicit Zoom astir how, and why, costumes bash truthful overmuch dense lifting erstwhile it comes to cinematic storytelling. The film, which is present playing successful theaters, has a stellar cast, including Lily McInerny arsenic the protagonist Cécile, her emotion involvement Cyril played by Aliocha Schneider, Chloë Sevingy arsenic a manner decorator named Anne, and Claes Bang arsenic Raymond, Cécile’s father.

Eugenie Dalland: A costume decorator precocious told maine that costumes are often the archetypal spot wherever storytelling begins successful a film. What bash you deliberation astir this idea?

Durga Chew-Bose: Miyako [Bellizzi] was showing maine photos precocious of Paul Mescal connected acceptable for a movie she costumed — he’s lasting successful a wood wearing a play costume. She was like, “the lone mode you cognize what period this takes spot successful is due to the fact that of my work.” She’s dispatching accusation done each costume prime she makes, each detail. Basically, everyone’s occupation connected acceptable is to springiness accusation to the image, and the costume design, for a batch of people, is wherever it begins. I thought that that was an absorbing mode to deliberation astir costume — arsenic not conscionable decor, but arsenic a missive that tells you who, what, when, where, how.

ED: Let’s speech astir the opening shots of “Bonjour Tristesse.” We spot a close-up of the nape of a young man’s cervix arsenic he’s pulling disconnected his T-shirt; he’s wearing a metallic chain. Next, a close-up of a young pistillate lounging connected a formation successful a yellowish one-piece bathing suit. What accusation were you dispatching with these shots?

Stills from "Bonjour Tristesse" by Durga Chew-Bose

DCB: I ever wanted the opening changeable to beryllium of a young antheral taking his T-shirt off. That nonstop framework is truthful iconic for galore people’s memories of summer. Immediately, we think: youth, summer, beach. I’d written successful the publication that the camera is precise adjacent to his body, not needfully for the intent of the pistillate gaze, though evidently the changeable is from Cécile’s constituent of view. I wanted to fig retired what was the item that felt similar the quintessential guy’s detail. I asked Aliocha, “How bash you instrumentality disconnected your T-shirt?” Because astir women I cognize instrumentality disconnected their T-shirts similar this [Durga crosses her arms, miming taking disconnected a shirt], and men spell implicit their shoulder, similar successful the shot. I’ve ever recovered that someway attractive, the quality betwixt however immoderate men and the women instrumentality their T-shirts off, these earthy inclinations.

ED: That’s a precise subtle, poetic item astir thing that radical mightiness disregard arsenic mundane.

DCB: We really changeable that country of him taking disconnected his T-shirt much than immoderate different country successful the film! Either the entity was excessively blue, oregon not bluish enough. For immoderate reason, taking disconnected a T-shirt became a full thing. [Laughter.]

ED: Another subtle item astir that changeable of his cervix is the metallic concatenation he’s wearing — it mildly helped spot the country successful modern times, successful the now. Because the T-shirt and one-piece are classical and could person been from astir immoderate decennary — 1970s, the 1940s.

DCB: It decidedly does marque it contemporary.

ED: That consciousness of being successful the present but besides a spot not came done successful galore ways. The publication features a batch of lines that person a definite dignity astir them that consciousness of an older time; thing astir the people besides feels person to however euphony utilized to beryllium featured successful movies. And there’s that fantastic motion to Hitchcock’s 1958 movie “Vertigo” successful Chloë [Sevigny]’s hairstyle! But for me, that timelessness was particularly conveyed with the costumes. Lots of afloat skirts, one-pieces, blouses with crisp collars, Lily’s achromatic Repetto flats, and past an Adidas sweatshirt! Which, similar the chain, redirects america backmost to the present. Was this consciousness of timelessness intentional?

DCB: I deliberation it was the alchemy of respective things. It wasn’t needfully thing that Miyako and I explicitly agreed on. It was her speechmaking of the script, and, arsenic you noted, the benignant of mannered mode that the characters spoke. I emotion that you called it “dignity.” It’s besides worthy noting that this movie is an adaptation of a publication from the 1950s, and layered implicit that is the archetypal adaptation of the movie by Otto Preminger, which came retired soon aft the book. All of that created an orbit of ideas of timelessness. I ever said to everyone progressive successful the film, “I don’t privation this to conscionable beryllium the modern mentation of ‘Bonjour Tristesse.’” When I deliberation astir however to make that prime you mentioned, being retired of measurement with time, however you make a satellite that makes the assemblage consciousness similar they’re escaping from oregon forgetting the now, costume is simply a large mode to bash that.

ED: What’s an example?

DCB: Chloë’s quality Anne is simply a manner designer, but I wanted to found her astatine a definite constituent successful her career. I felt like, what would Cécile retrieve of her from that summer? The reply was a pistillate whose collars are truly crisp.

ED: I emotion the thought of the crispness of a woman’s garment collar being portion of the storytelling. There’s a country with a delicate lace coverlet connected a furniture that I’m reasoning of, wherever Cécile’s dad, played by Claes Bang, and Chloë are making a furniture together. The coverlet felt similar it was portion of the storytelling too: They’re creating thing home together, thing beautiful, but that is yet fragile arsenic well. Was that the connection successful that scene?

DCB: I deliberation my accumulation squad was interpreting what I wrote successful the publication and felt similar that was the close worldly for that speech betwixt Anne and Raymond. It’s a country wherever a antheral and a pistillate who stock a precise aggravated past are making a furniture together, truthful describing that textile arsenic “domestic” is right. It’s comic you bring up that coverlet, due to the fact that the Balenciaga formal Chloë wore to our Toronto International Film Festival premiere was really inspired by that scene.

ED: That’s amazing.

DCB: Chloë is ever reasoning astir character, and she wants the choices that she makes successful her ain beingness to beryllium portion of a narrative. Narrative gathering is however she approaches acting, which I learned truthful overmuch from. I emotion artists who are ever reasoning astir the grade of their artistry successful their existent life.

ED: Art imitates beingness but beingness besides imitates art! Something astir that coverlet indispensable person felt important to her astir her character.

DCB: We did a batch of what I’ll telephone cloth casting. The props squad would amusement maine assorted array settings for definite scenes; I’d speech with my cinematographer astir it. Some of these decisions were really purely method — definite yellows conscionable won’t look bully connected a terrace successful the South of France astatine 3 p.m. Maybe these are boring details, but they were an acquisition for me. You can’t conscionable prosecute aesthetic concepts.

ED: That’s a truly important point. So overmuch storytelling is conveyed successful what mightiness beryllium considered a mundane, method detail, yet that item ends up creating a large impact.

DCB: Exactly. At the extremity of the film, Lily is wearing a reddish wool dress. It was successful a airy shadiness of red, but astatine the 11th hr erstwhile we were shooting, Miyako was like, “No, it’s not the close shadiness of red!” So she went retired and recovered a wool dye.

ED: I emotion that! I work precocious that the costume decorator for the movie “Conclave” hated the shadiness of reddish that cardinals deterioration today, that connected surface it looked truly tacky. So she dyed each of the cardinals’ costumes for the movie a darker shadiness of reddish inspired by Renaissance portraits of cardinals. Like you said, big-picture aesthetic concepts dictate the costume design, but astatine the extremity of the time it besides comes down to method details that necessitate a truly sophisticated, experienced oculus to perceive.

DCB: Totally. Miyako truly has that eye. I deliberation she’s besides a world-builder. The anecdote astir “Conclave” is absorbing due to the fact that intelligibly the costume decorator wasn’t conscionable wedded to information and realism, but alternatively to world-building. Like wrong this communicative of what’s happening successful this movie, the reddish wasn’t needfully going to bespeak reality. The mode that characters speech successful the publication I wrote, we weren’t truly seeking realism oregon trying to mimic the present successful a mode that radical would respond to with relatability. That wasn’t going to beryllium what drew them in. I wanted what drew them successful to beryllium thing else, thing that was achieved done world-building. Creating thing that could consciousness similar radical knew wherever they were, but were besides a spot unsure.

ED: That sounds similar you’re describing what it’s similar to beryllium wrong of a dream.

DCB: I emotion that. Early on, determination was a speech astir however to seizure Cécile’s interiority without utilizing [voice-over] narration successful the film, which is what the Preminger adaptation does. One of the marvels of the publication is its first-person narration, and we wondered, “How bash you bash that connected screen?” My anticipation is that the acquisition of watching it makes you ask, “Did this truly happen, oregon is this however Cécile remembers it?” The mode I wanted to bespeak Cécile’s interiority was of those elaborate moments that you perpetrate to representation that alteration however you comprehend womanhood, oregon love, oregon intimacy.

ED: Do you mean that the movie represents Cécile’s memory?

DCB: It wasn’t immoderate high-concept idea, I conscionable deliberation that mostly if you’re making a movie that has to bash with a young woman, successful the summer, you’re instantly launched into representation much than you are into reality.

ED: I privation to instrumentality to Chloë’s Balenciaga formal that was inspired by the coverlet. Maybe this is silly, but person you started dressing similar immoderate of the characters successful the film?

DCB: No, that’s truthful interesting! I’ve decidedly accumulated much vintage T-shirts since shooting “Bonjour,” but I besides consciousness similar there’s a prime to Cécile’s costume plan that reminds maine of myself astatine a younger age, similar a somewhat sporty borderline to it.

ED: Sporty borderline was wholly your benignant successful college.

DCB: That clip connected set, everyone benignant of became their characters. Lily virtually inactive wears achromatic Repetto flats, the aforesaid that she wears successful galore scenes successful “Bonjour.” It’s benignant of similar there’s an representation that you can’t unsee. There’s nary question, you benignant of alteration with these sorts of large projects, and immoderate that alteration is, I deliberation for immoderate people, it mightiness beryllium the mode that they dress.

Eugenie Dalland is simply a writer and exertion based successful upstate New York. Her penning has appeared successful BOMB, Hyperallergic, Los Angeles Review of Books and the Brooklyn Rail. She co-founded and published the arts and civilization mag Riot of Perfume from 2011 to 2019.

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