Chloë Sevigny Is A Strict Mother Figure In The ‘Bonjour Tristesse’ Trailer

If the absence of the sun is driving you slightly crazy, take refuge in the fact that spring is right around the corner — along with the arrival of a sun-drenched film with enough beach B-roll to take you out of your seasonal depression. Bonjour Tristesse, the much-anticipated directorial debut of Durga Chew-Bose starring Lily McInerny and Chloë Sevigny, is on its way, with a theatrical release date set for May 2. Until then, the trailer is out now for a taste of Southern-France bliss.

The film, based on the novel by Françoise Sagan of the same name, follows 18-year-old Cécile (McInerny) as she enters adulthood on a summer vacation with her father Raymond, played by the suave Claes Bang. Everything is copacetic, but when their longtime family friend Anne (Sevigny) arrives, things take a turn for the worse. It’s a star-making turn for McInerny, who has only been in one other film, Palm Trees and Power Lines, before this. The movie is also a great introduction to the adorable Canadian-French actor Aliocha Schneider, who plays McInerny’s love interest, Cyril.

NYLON caught up with McInerny last year in Miami at the new Celine store, where she dished on filming the movie in the south of France: “It's a very visual, very beautiful, sensual, striking film... It's a dramatic coming of age story, though I don't know if I could really define it as that, but because there's a lot of generations of women interacting with each other. There's an amazing character named Elsa, played by Nailia Harzoune, who's this wonderful French actress. And then Chloë Sevigny is, yeah, a dream.” Any born and bred New Yorker would jump at the chance to work with Sevigny, who plays a fashion designer in the movie, and McInerny had nothing but wonderful things to say about her: “She is the coolest. She’s just as cool as she seems. And so talented and so elegant and so hilarious.”

While there’s two months between the trailer release and the film’s debut, tide yourself over by digging back into Sevigny’s film archive or watching movies that are the aesthetic sister to this one like Call Me By Your Name, La Piscine, and of course, the 1958 version of Bonjour Tristesse starring French New Wave legend Jean Seberg. For now, find the trailer below.