Un pont entre deux rives

"The Bridge" is a slice-of-French-life flick which, like many French films, is fatalistic, character-driven, and an almost plotless film about life. The film tells of a middle class housewife and mother who has an affair. The adulterous relationship is treated cooly by the husband (Depardieu), the wife (Boquet), and her lover (Berling) in this film in which, beyond the principals, everything else is just so much window dressing. Well acted, not particularly artistic but technically okay, "The Bridge" will appeal most to aficionados of French cinema while other will miss the sex, nudity, melodrama, and other appurtenances of a typical Hollywood product.

Despite the wonderfully wrenching performance of the boy (Stanislas Crevillen) this Bridge lacks foundation to support the relationship that turns on a tear. Motive matters. And a thoughtless and irresponsible and unsympathetic role Bouquet is saddled with, besides a 16th arrondissement visage in a maid's role, does not allow the viewer to ultimately care, though the sympathies do lie with the boy and the dad. This tranche de la vie is a bit stale, n'est-ce pas?

The title of this film is appropriate and describes well what the outcome of the conflict will be. Gerard Depardieu, working with co-director Frederic Auburtin, take us back to a not too distant past to an easier time. The flavor of the film is typically French.

It's easy to see why Mina, the ravishing looking young woman at the center of the story, seems bored with her present situation. She has married a man that is, in some ways, a loser, to her eyes. Georges doesn't seem to share the same interests Mina, especially for the movies. Georges, an unemployed man, prefers to spend his time at the local pub, playing cards and drinking. As a couple, one wonders what has kept them together so long. She is a beautiful woman and it's hard to see what attracted her to Georges.

Mina, on the other hand, jumps at the offer she gets from Claire, a wealthy woman in her town, who offers her a job as a housekeeper. When she meets Matthias, Mina loses all inhibitions and becomes involved with this man that is the opposite of her husband. Tommy, the son, plays a significant part in the affair. Mina has involved him from the start; this young man, instead of being horrified by what his mother is doing, shows a perverse side when he goes along in keeping his mother' secret.

The last scene of the film offers a poignant reflection on the movie in that Mina and Georges' separation is permanent, as their lives have taken them in different directions.

Carole Bouquet is a gorgeous woman. By pairing her opposite Gerard Depardieu, the contrast is even more evident. Despite of the costumes she is made to wear, one can see in her Mina an elegance that tells us she does not belong in this marriage, or this town. Mr. Depardieu's Georges is a man that reacts with resignation to the break up. By being philosophical, after trying to reason with Mina, he conveys to us that he knew this would come as their relationship went nowhere.

Charles Berling, is seen as Matthias, an engineer who is in charge of the construction of the bridge. He is a married man, who will probably will end the affair and go back to his wife, as most of these romances have a certain time span. Stanislas Crevillen, plays young Tommy. This boy shows a cruel side toward his father, although nothing seems to be wrong in their relationship.

This film has elicited some negative comments in this forum, but in spite of that reaction, the movie will be appreciated for the frankness in which these people tell one another where they stand and for not beating around the bush in denying or hiding the truth. Adultery, after all, is a fact of life that shows its ugly face in all types of society.

Hmm,....I've seen a lot of French films in the last year and have found that quite a few of them concern adultery. So, I found myself a bit tired of the plot line already before I even began watching this film.

Carole Bouquet is a middle-aged woman married to Gerard Depardieu. She's an awfully pretty lady who's a housewife and he's a very traditional working man. Unknown to him, she wants more out of life. She never tells him anything so he assumes the marriage is fine. Well, he's out of work and needs a job so he has to work several hours away and only come home on the weekends. Since she is bored, she doesn't try very hard not to become involved with another married man. During all this, she does a lousy job of concealing it from her teenage son--eventually this selfish and carefree approach towards her son will result in consequences (the best part of the film I think because it actually shows the damage this behavior can have on the kids). Depardieu finds out but doesn't respond like a clod--in fact, he's very quick to forgive her and take her back. His character is just too decent about it. He also vows that if she's bored, he'll do anything to change things. But, she's extremely self-centered and runs off with her lover.

I actually liked the film better than most of the French "adultery movies" because you can see negative consequences. I think for those who think adultery is an evil, there's enough there to prevent the movie from glorifying it. And, interestingly enough, I could also see the movie being taken as a "do it if it makes you feel good" film by those who think adultery is a legitimate alternative. It's interesting, though, how often in films the message appears to be that it is your partner's job to make you happy--and isn't YOUR responsibility to make yourself happy. That's just my "two cents worth". I would have liked it if the film had focused more on this, but this is only a minor quibble.

Well-acted and interesting, but not a great film.

Carole Bouquet is a revelation as a woman approaching middle age (a long way from her Bond girl origins), and Charles Berling and Gerard Depardieu are in their usual top form. But the screenplay, adapted from a French best seller, but with a radically changed ending, is not the French BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY as some claimed. The screenplay tells an all too familiar story that even its excellent actors and technical team cannot overcome. In its fourth week of release, the public and the critics reflect these sentiments.