La fille sur le pont

The best moments of the quirky love story, "Girl on the Bridge", come in the beginning sequence when the introspective Adele (played by the beautiful Vanessa Paradis) is questioned about her clinical depression by an unseen voice in a room full of unseen therapists. Adele explains both her natural attraction and her bad luck with successive men who mistreat her in one way or another. Then comes Gabor (Daniel Auteuil) who tries to 'rescue' her from the bridge she is about to jump off. Their relationship starts out like a Pymalion story with the more intelligent Professor Higgins and the unrefined Eliza but then turns into a road show, like "La Strada", with the experienced showman Zampano and poor waif Gelsomina but finally ends up looking like "Two for the Road" with two sick puppies who can't do without each other. You come away from "Girl on the Bridge" thinking about love in the abstract rather than love you can feel. Do we really care that in the end, the knife thrower and the target have changed places? Can we really understand the pathetic lives of a younger woman and an older man who instinctively know what the other is doing and whose sexual gratification comes from experiencing the fear of dying? Given the high drama of their lives, you would think "Girl on the Bridge" could come to some conclusion about two desperate characters trying to find some meaning in life. Instead we meet them back on a bridge where they started out in the beginning, with an oddly chosen Brenda Lee tune thrown in to accentuate the strangeness of a strange film.

Here's another very, very different movie. The dialog is quite different and so is the fact that it's a modern movie filmed in black-and-white. It is part romance, comedy and drama.

The camera-work is excellent, but that's no surprise considering Patrice Leconte is the director. He's my favorite European director because his films are visual feasts. His facial closeups and different camera angles are fascinating.

Vanessa Paradis is captivating as the female lead character "Adele." She's unusual in that she has a very pretty face but horrible teeth! It's tough not to focus on both the face and teeth at the same time. The dialog between her and "Gabor" (Daniel Auteuil) is different, at least for me as an American. I think the French have a totally different sense of humor....and are superstitious, big-time.

I wish the tape had been dubbed, so I could have concentrated more on the great visuals instead of having to read the subtitles.

In Paris, the needy and unlucky Adèle (Vanessa Paradis) is a complete loser, used by all the men in her life. In a Parisian bridge in the night, when the Adèle is near to commit suicide, the knife thrower Gabor (Daniel Auteuil) invites her to be his target in his show. She accepts the invitation, and they become a great success in show business. Like two halves of a bill, when they separate, they become losers again. Soon they realize that only together they would succeed in life and find love with each other.

"La Fille Sur le Pont" is a magnificent and delightful fairytale about two half-souls that meet each other in a Parisian bridge, filling their lives with lucky, happiness and love. The story in some moments recalls the wonderful films by Frank Capra, in other moments is quite erotic. The performances of Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paredis, showing a perfect chemistry, deserve a nomination to the Oscar. Most of their witty dialogs are fantastic, the direction of Patrice Leconte is splendid as usual and the black & white cinematography is stunning. "La Fille Sur le Pont" is a movie to be revisited many times and highly indicated to fans of filmed poetry. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "A Mulher e o Atirador de Facas" ("The Woman and the Knife Thrower")

Note: On 08 Jul 2018 I saw this film again.

Film of extreme sensuality, carried by 2 excellent actors. Vanessa Paradis radiates and subdues: her voice, her beauty, and even her slightly stupid side (in this movie, of course). Daniel Auteuil captivates his entourage, among other things with an artificially dark look. We feel them connected. Together, they complement each other. Separated, they accumulate failures. And the film becomes magical, as in a fairy tale.

For years I was asking myself: the beauty of the early French films, the poetic realism, the simplicity and magic of the early Italian neorealists - where have they gone? I was missing that moment of pure cinema magic, the feel of people, the love for life in the movies. The unforgettable pictures of our childhood created by people like Carne and Vigo, Rene Clair, de Sica and Fellini. Now they are back. Patrick Leconte has created a very original, highly enjoyable little masterpiece that has it all in a modern movie. This beautiful black and white love story is a great moment of contemporary cinema that leaves you with that deeply happy feeling, that cinema sometimes seem to have forgotten about. As a producer and director myself, I was searching for a long time for any modern piece of film that picks up on that wonderful poetic movie tradition that combines reality with a flowing, surreal dream-like storytelling that your heart directly understands. Leconte's gentle and lighthearted, yet perfect command of visual language and editing makes this simple little story about a knife-thrower and cabaret artist and his "victim" and partner, a suicidal young woman, one of my happiest cinema experiences in the last 20 years. That people do this kind of movies these days, gives you hope. We need more movies like this. This is a film that nobody should miss that loves poetry, love, life and circus as major elements of cinema and human existence. Congratulations to Patrice Leconte and his inspired DP Jean Marie Dreujou.