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Wednesday, May 23, 2018

BONJOUR TRISTESSE


I  recently watched the critically acclaimed film An Education because I am a fan of Peter Sarsgaard.  I was impressed with Carey Mulligan's performance.

In the film, Mulligan's character loves the recordings by Juliette Greco. That made me recall about a friend of mine who was a fan of the author Francoise Sagan so we just had to see the movie Bonjour Tristesse when it was released. We loved the singing of Juliette Greco in the movie and my friend purchased the record.

I called my friend to tell her about the movie and I asked if she still had the Juliette Greco record. She said that it was lost in one of her many moves.  She laughed and said, "How could I have been so silly to think that Sagan was a great writer?" I said, "Hell, we were fourteen--what do you expect--I was just as bad--I thought Taylor Caldwell was good!" 


She said, "I think that's when you got all-Francophile on me, wasn't it?" I answered, "Yes, I had to find out the meaning of Bonjour Tristesse!" She asked, "I forget;  what does it mean?" I answered, in my best whispery Juliette Greco imitation, "Good morning, sadness!" We both screeched with laughter. 

She and I fondly reminisced about our schoolgirl passions and intellectual pretensions.

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