When thinking of Technicolor, the first thing that comes to mind is the famous scene in the 1939 musical, “The Wizard of Oz,” where Dorothy opens the door to Munchkin Land to enter the world of color.
“I think every kid remembers watching ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and when she comes through that door, you get hit in the face with the beauty of Oz,” FilmScene attendee Emily Schulz said.
In the 1958 film, “Bonjour Tristesse,” color is presented in flashbacks but is no less astounding. Based on the 1954 French novel of the same name, it centers around the character of 17-year-old Cécile recounting the previous summer she spent on the French Riviera with her father, Raymond, and his mistress, Elsa.
Cécile’s flashbacks serve as transitions to the striking colors of Technicolor. The first colors shown are dark red and light blue, as Cécile wears a blue shirt and a red swimsuit. While other colors add to the mix in the form of a yellow sailboat and green trees, blue and red remain at the forefront of the film.
“Technicolor is a very interesting technique,” attendee Dean Abel said. “It does produce a very vibrant color.”
Particularly, the color red seems to appear at the most pivotal moments in the film. The first time we meet Elsa, she is sunburned. The young, pretty Elsa would later play a big role in the film.
Cécile spends that summer in complete happiness with her father, Elsa, and Philippe — Cécile’s lover — until the unexpected arrival of Anne, a friend of her mother’s and closer in age to her father than Elsa. Anne, a striking redhead, brings discipline into the free-spirited Cécile’s life.
While the flashbacks were done entirely in color, the present-day scenes were entirely in black and white, further emphasizing the lack of happiness in the present day. In the present day, while Cécile dances at a party, a woman sings the song, “Bonjour Tristesse,” an ode to the film’s title translating to “Hello Sadness.”
“This movie was fascinating in that it had black and white sequences interspersed,” Abel said.
Arguably, the most striking moment of color in the film is at the party Cécile attends with her father, Anne, Elsa, and Phillipe. Everyone at the party wears brightly colored clothes, and it is a scene of good times with laughter, music, and dancing and one of the last happy moments in the film.
Anne later forbids Cécile from seeing Phillipe, forcing the girl to focus on her studies. Enraged, Cécile enlists the help of Philippe and Elsa to pretend to be a couple and make her father jealous. However, the plan gets out of hand when Anne catches Elsa and Raymond together, and the movie ends with Anne’s death.
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“[People could take away] not using people as playthings,” Schulz said, regarding the film’s message. “This was a game up until the very end.”
“Bonjour Tristesse” was a part of Filmscene’s latest film series, “Technicolor of Love.” While there were elements of love in this film, it did take a darker turn toward the end, as Cécile conspires to get rid of Anne.
“I like to see movies of all ages and genres,” Abel said. “I found this movie quite frivolous until it got darker.”
While Technicolor films are arguably a product of their times, their popularity at Filmscene has been high.
“They’ve been driving a good crowd,” Assistant General Manager Cooper Harrison said regarding the film series. “Having it paired in February with Valentine’s has gotten people in the mood to come and see something to swoon at on the big screen.”
According to Harrison, Filmscene periodically brings back Technicolor films, which is always an experience. As technology has developed, Technicolor is a medium that no longer exists today, but it is still treasured.
“It’s a way of shooting. It’s a medium that doesn’t exist anymore, and it’s one of those things that you can try and replicate as much as you want, but there’s never going to be anything quite like it,” Harrison said.
