Les amants du Pont-Neuf

I've just watched this film and, out of curiosity, the comments of several contributors to this bulletin board. Simply can't fathom the glowing enthusiasm of most of these - though I suppose they are self-selected from those who have actually been able to sit through it.To me it seemed phony, pretentious, and in the end unbelievably boring - both words here seem applicable alone as well as in tandem. I'm rather fond of Binoche, and this may have something to do with my impression that she found the role one that couldn't be played convincingly - that she as a result could only stumble through it sans conviction. Why did I then watch it through? In the hope of some saving grace - which I certainly failed to find in that silly resolution.

This is one of the great romances precisely because it goes against the grain of all the great screen romances. Because of its ability to strike new terrain -- to go where no romance has gone before, to take chances, in essence -- it achieves a level of passionate intensity that most romantic films could only dream of mustering.

The camera work -- by Jean-Yves Escoffier, one of the great cinematographers working today (who shot Leos Carax's early films -- "Bad Blood" and "Boy Meets Girl" -- as well as Larry Clark's "Kids," and the directorial debut of Harmony Korine, "Gummo") -- is absolutely breathtaking. I cannot overemphasize this. It is, perhaps, one of the most beautiful color films ever made. The style of the film suits the subject matter perfectly. It proves that the great films have a form that not only compliments the subject matter, but becomes it. The content is the form, and vise versa. The film is shot "Cinema-Verite" style, with rough, hand-held, choppy camerawork, and a gritty, realistic aesthetic quality. There are moments of fancy and surrealism that would seem to utterly contradict this style. On the contrary, these moments are rendered believable, avoid presenting problems of logic, because of the film's harsh, balancing tone. The "wild" style of the film captures perfectly the passionate, stormy affair of the lovers -- the truest love, and certainly the most passionate, the film says, is that closest to nature, to the base element of humanity.

Another layer of enjoyment comes from the film's similarity to Jean Vigo's "L'Atlante." In fact, the final sequence in the film has the two lovers plummeting from the bridge into the cold water. They are picked up by a sand barge, on its final trip to the ocean. The husband and wife, who we learn have spent their life shipping sand, agree to take them along. It is almost as if the couple in "L'Atlante" have reappeared to prove that passionate, tumultuous love affairs can end happily, despite their problems. One of the last shots of the film shows the two lovers walking across the barge, over the hills of sand, to the bow -- a direct quotation of "L'Atlante."

The last shot (for enemies of James Cameron's "Titanic" -- an absolutely shallow romance; as cold and heartless as the iceberg that dooms the ship) shows the two lovers hovering over the bow of the ship, magically, as if suspended by love. It is obvious James Cameron plagiarized this moment ("Les Amants..." came out in 1991). This fact should be trumpeted far and wide. "Titanic" is a bloated whale of a movie. "Les Amants du Pont Neuf" is simply the greatest romance to have erupted on the screens in the last decade.

Oh, please. I used to say I could watch Juliette Binoche read the phone book, but this sorely tested that theory. What a mess of a movie! -- by turns a tired liberal pseudodocumentary on the homeless (though by the end, you realize that according to this flick, homelessness is a byproduct of personal misfortune and not, evidently, any societal forces), a down-and-dirty romance (Binoche can be forgiven; what actress [or actor] wouldn't want to play a one-eyed homeless artist losing the vision in the other eye?), an extended music video, and God knows what else, all set in a Paris largely devoid of traffic and people. Completely lacking *internal* logic (and yes, fables do need that), it seems to have acquired quite a few devotees drawn to its alleged "poetry." All I see is pretentiousness and self-indulgence. If the other reviews here tempt you to see it anyway, that's fine; but don't say you weren't warned.

...but what style! The most expensive French film ever made when it came out, this film features some spectacular set-pieces, particularly the French bi-centennial celebrations that provide a backdrop. It has its weaknesses, but when I saw this in the cinema I was blown away. Denis Lavant puts in a particularly strong performance as Alex, the depressive and tender down-and-out obsessed with Binoche's Michele. Watch it, even if you find nothing else in it, the visuals are astonishing.

This move teaches us "Love doesn't need any money". This couple was living a life honest to themselves. The expression of uneasy feelings is one of the kind. After he gets out of jail, they are shinning in the night sky of Paris. The fireworks scene and music selection, everything was artistic. Congratulation! I gave it 8 stars. This movie became one of my favorite French movies.