La ragazza sul ponte

Two tragic characters: A beautiful girl, on the edge of a bridge contemplating suicide, and a broken man, on the same bridge for the same reason. The man is a believer. He believes in fortune. He's been around, and he's seen many things. He can tell when the wheels of fortune are turning, and in the face of the young girl he sees salvation for them both. He senses a feeling stronger than fate or Kismet or whatever you want to call it. A conviction that two people can be made for each other, that two people can connect in a way imperceivable and unobtainable for most of the world, a connection so deep and so strong, that it can make them invincible.

In most movies of this kind, you expect the characters to discover how right they are for each other along the way. In this movie they know it the instant they meet, but they're too proud and too overwhelmed to accept the fact that it could be so easy.

Patrice Leconte takes us on a wonderful journey around Europe, and fills each black and white frame with such colorful feelings that it's next to impossible not to be taken in by the mere suggestion that there can be a perfect match for each person, and that together they can take on the world.

La fille sur le pond, is a movie about fortune, destiny, love, danger, lust, luck, romance but above all, I think that it's about connection. Connection on a level so high that it becomes divine. This movie is unique and in it I find refuge whenever I feel alone or lonely.

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.

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.

A 'quirky' story from a director who likes to keep the viewer guessing - as in the wonderful 'Hairdresser's Husband'.The dialogues are wonderful in this movie, far wittier than the semi-silly 'Ridicule'; Although the subtitles are not perfect (which they rarely are, it's a very tough craft), they were difficult to read on top of that, at least in the film print I saw. But the storyline and the relationship in the movie more than carries it. Because of the occasional awkward subtitling, some of the lines might seem sillier than they are in the original French. The black & white cinematography is truly outstanding, beautiful & fitting. Daniel Auteuil shows more physical liveliness in this role than usual, and he's a true pleasure to watch; but the heart of this movie is truly Vanessa Paradis - an outstanding performance, full of charm & and pathos. The chemistry between the principles is enchanting. Leconte has completely succeeded in presenting a 'higher love' story.

This is a surreal and light-hearted romance story between a lonely middle-age man in solitude and a promiscuous young lady who decided there was no more to her life and would be desperate to try anything and put herself to the most of the extremes in a quest for excitement and sexual satisfaction. The fact that the movie was done in black-and-white added a layer of drama and mystery to the story. It seems to me that the writer was trying to get across a message that sometimes true love can surpass the materialistic desires like money, sex and lust, and the pair managed to find a unique and non-sexual way of connecting to each other.

Not a bad cinematic experience, especially with Daniel Auteuil being as charismatic and captivating as ever! There is something with this guy which you just can't find from other actors and which will glue you to the screen just to watch him in any type of actions with amazement. And he is one of those guys who can do the very witty and sometimes dream-like dialogues so naturally as in this movie that the audience will not be left with a feeling of pretentiousness or disbelief.