Sur la route de Madison

The family of Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep) is dealing with her final wish after her death. She wants to be cremated and her ashes scattered from Roseman Bridge. They discover pictures taken in 1965 and her emotional affair with famed National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) whose ashes were scattered from the bridge. Her kids read her accounts of those four days. Her family went to the Illinois state fair. Robert was on assignment to film the bridge and stopped to ask directions from Italian war bride Francesca.

It's a simple bittersweet story. Director Clint Eastwood doesn't add anything overtly melodramatic. Meryl Streep is pitch-perfect. She's an expert on calibrating her accents but it's her every simple gesture that is so precise. She could teach an acting class from this movie. The story is basically laid out in the first ten minutes before either Streep or Eastwood is even on the screen. That is its most obvious drawback. It's not a movie of twists and mysteries. It is however a movie of emotional depth and her children are a big part of it.

I only managed about two pages of the book before feeling physically ill by the trite dialogue, heavy dependence on cliche and ham fisted, adolescent romance prose style. So a film of the book 'The Bridges of Madison County' did not fill me with joy and pleasureable anticpation.

Yet Clint Eastwood has waved a magic wand, and worked wonders on the lack lustre source material, by pairing it down to produce a beautiful, warm film with only one real flaw (more on that later)

The film's overwhelming main strength is the casting of Meryl Streep. As Francesca she dissolves into the role - at times her gestures and dialogue seem so natural and unforced it is as if Eastwood had installed a fly-on-the-wall camera into the house of a real Iowan housewife. She lifts the film - which does centre on themes which could appear trite in the wrong hands - to the level of profound piece of art. Her selflessness and devotion to her family, and tortured sense of divided loyalites are presented so powerfully, and so plausibly, that the final scene in the car at the end (those who've seen it will recall immediately what I mean) pulls at your emotions so hard you'd swear it was you who was making the decision. I defy anyone with a pulse not to shed copious amounts of tears at this point --- you would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved on some level by this great, great performance.

Clint Eastwood provides good, solid support in the sense that he doesn't overact, and allows Meryl to become the heart of the film. This is a wise decision - part of the terrible weakness of the book was its dependence upon the inane thoughts and ramblings of Robert Kincaid. The film is beautifully directed, beautifully photograhed and beautifully scored - the radio tunes and the non-diegetic Bridges Love theme really enhance the romantic, lush tone and mood of the film.

My only problem is with the misguided decision to cast Francesca's older children and flash back periodically to them reading through their Mother's journals. The acting in these parts is mediocre at best, and they detract from the elegance and poignant mastery of Meryl Streep's central performance. The ashes scene at the end is - I feel - necessary for closure, but the rest of the scenes featuring the chldren should have been scrapped. The Francesca and Robert sections stand alone and require no interruption - these other segments cheapen the mastery of Meryl.

Above all, this is a film which (on paper) can be dismissed as pure soap opera. But it transcends these potentially trite themes to make a universal story of love, selflessness, devotion and choice, that speaks eloquently to the viewer, no matter what your age or experience. It's a truly heartbreaking tale of transitory experience and the power of memory. It will make you think about your own life, and about your closest family members and relationships.

And its finest quality has to be the magic of Meryl Streep who proves, yet again, why she is uniquely the best actress we have ever had. As Clint Eastwood said about casting this role: 'I only made one phonecall'. He knew as you will too - no other actress could have brought so much depth, warmth, beauty, charisma and humanity to this character. As a humble film lover, it's all I can do to applaud her from the depths of my heart. Bravo, Queen Meryl!

Meryl Streep is absolutely astonishing. I forgot it was her ten seconds into the film. That opening breakfast scene where all of her story is written in her magnificent face. As an Italian I know there is no acting involved here. She IS Italian. She reminded me of Anna Magnani in "Bellissima" there is not a single false note. Clint Eastwood, clearly, dedicates the film to her and the results are pure magic. The film is based on an unreadable book- at least I couldn't get through it, in spite of the brevity of the volume - the film however, is bound to become a classic thanks to the powerful chemistry of the stars. If you love film,like I do, I recommend you to see it once and let yourself be taken away by the truths in Meryl's eyes then go again and take note. Look at every one of her moments, from how she closes the refrigerator door to her laughter. Look at her reaction when she discovers that Clint stopped at Bari, her home town, just because he thought the place was pretty. Look at her hands, her walk and then go back to her eyes. It's a treat of the first order. Clint, in front as well as behind the camera,does a miraculous job. I passionately recommend it, no matter how young you are.

A classic romantic movie. It has a "parting scene" between the couple that is so beautiful that it deserves a place in movie history. I will never forget the sight of Clint standing in the rain.

I think this movie of one of the best movies I have ever seen. Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood really did a great job in this movie. for him to come in and change her life in just four days is amazing. To fall in love with some one in just four days is just wonderful to me. I watch it on Starz, and it played everyday for a week and I watch it every day it came on. she was a strong lady to stay there and be unhappy for all of those years. It is simply a beautiful movie. I love the part when he was picking flowers for her and she told him that the flowers were poison and then she started to laugh, that was hilarious to me. Because just in the few minutes she had know him he brought out something in her something that has not been released. She was more herself in this movie.I would surely recommend this movie to some one else.