Customer Reviews

The Girl on the Bridge [Region 2]

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's very seldom that a film truly deserves a perfect FIVE star rating; well, at least a film from the past ten years or so. You know that old saying: they don't make 'em like they used to anymore? That's true, except for Girl on the Bridge. This film is simply put: wistful. It sparkles with a peculiar romantic intensity and a vividness that is not often found in contemporary films; whatever the language. It's as if Cukor or Hawks or Capra stepped out of the past to guide this little film along. It would take the French to make a movie this glowing with romantic saturation. The director is Patrice Leconte. That name will probably not mean much to most people outside of France or Europe, but in his native country he is as famous and respected a living filmmaker as there ever was. When you look at the body of Leconte's work it may not seem impressive at first. He doesn't have a mile long list of blockbuster hits to his name (like Scorsese or Spielberg) but he makes the most of every single film he creates and when viewed as a whole, his films mostly share a similar thread: two lonely and desperate people trying to make a connection in a cruel world.

In some of Leconte's films the connection is as simple as friendship (The Man on the Train '02, My Best Friend '06) but mostly his films revolve around the eminent concept of love (Girl on the Bridge '99, The Widow of Saint-Pierre '00) and to some degree obsession (Monsieur Hire '89, The Hairdresser's Husband '90, Intimate Strangers '04). But do not mistake me, Girl on the Bridge is not some weepy romantic tear-jerker. On the contrary, it is something of an anomaly. It is about two damaged people who share a bond that neither one can quite understand or ultimately ignore. How you feel about that bond in question is up to you since some may say it's luck, and others might say it's clairvoyance. Yes. There is an air of mysticism to the proceedings in Girl on the Bridge, but believe me, in terms of the story it's what makes the whole thing click. That and the chemistry of the two stars: Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis (better known as the future Mrs. Johnny Depp).

Auteuil dominates the film with his world-weary eyes and saggy face. There is something brutal about him that lingers caged under a gentle surface; he's like a Gallic Bogart with more spontaneity. In this film he plays a professional knife thrower. When one considers the type of person it must take to have knives thrown at them at high velocity, it's no wonder he finds his would-be assistants on the ledges of Parisian bridges after nightfall. This particular would-be target is played by the delicate, sensual and callow Paradis. Their stormy professional relationship (replete with psychic bond) soon matures into a true friendship and eventual...well, I'll leave the rest up to you to discover. The film is filled with playful yet ravishing cinematography (courtesy of Jean-Marie Dreujou) and a haunting musical score (featuring the unforgettable Marianne Faithfull). It's funny, erotic and above all else a film that fills the senses and leaves you breathless. Legend Films presents Girl on the Bridge in a sparkling anamorphic transfer with pleasing sound. This is the first time the film has been released on DVD in region 1, and believe me, it was long overdue. I showed this film to someone once and all they could say afterward was: "it looked like one of those black and white cologne or diamond commercials on TV." Yeah, I suppose there are some people who could look at Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel and sum it up by saying: "it sure went high up." It's so easy for some to miss the point. I think what Leconte is trying to say with most of his films is that love is inherently simple, yet we as human beings complicate the matter every time. Perhaps it's something in our nature. Is it the heart that's responsible? The head? The gut? Maybe it's the whole damn thing...

After I saw this film, I liked to say that the last film I saw was in French and black and white. This film has all the wonders of both. In our age of vivid color and candid sex, this film is both erotic and subtle. Although throwing knife as phallic symbol does not suggest it, this film is sensual, not sexual. Vanessa Paradis and Daniel Auteil make an amazing pair. Her supermodel good looks and flippant sexuality makes her HOT the perfect foil for his calm, collected COOL as they go on a gallavanting tour of behind the big tent Europe. This is a film for clever sentamentalists and cynics alike. Sure, the film takes an "other half" attitude to love, but it also makes it plainly clear that love is altogether fragile, and cannot hold.

I don't even know where to begin writing about this movie. It follows young Adele, who thinks that her life is worthless and wants to kill herself by jumping off a bridge. Of corse, she dosen't (or else we wouldn't have much of a movie) and is confronted by a circus-knife-throwing man who says he can make her life better as she starts to plunge. This movie is all about how you control your own luck in life, or atleast that is what I felt the message was. It wasn't until I had finished the movie and gotten into bed that i realized that this THE most beautiful movie I have ever seen. It was just so light and and enjoyable, and made you smile inside. Beautiful is a word I have never used to describe a movie before. I always say "funny" or "cute" or "awful" or even "awsome". But never "beautiful" -until now. I have no idea why it's rated R. There was one profain word and nothing explicit (I mean NOTHING) in the whole film. I would even let a 10 year old watch it- just so they can see what a good movie is supposed to be like. Vanessa Paradis has proven to me with this that she is not just one of my favorite singers and models, but is a really great and serious actress. Everything I saw in this film impressed me. And please don't worry about having to read the subtitles! After 2 minutes, I promise you'll be so involved you won't notice or care. If you loved Chocolat, or Amelie, or anything like that, TRY THIS. (It's so inexpensive you might as well buy it. I couldn't find it in Blockbuster anyway.) Absolutley incredible! I don't know if I'll ever find another movie that can touch me this deeply.

Patrice Leconte's hypnotically erotic fable of passion, caprice and cutlery is a delirious swirl of exuberant romanticism, propelled by the gravely melancholy intensity of Daniel Auteuil and the startlingly incandescent vulnerability of Vanessa Paradis. He's a past-his-prime knife-thrower in search of a new human target and, if he's really lucky, a shot at redemption. She's a despairing young beauty who can give him everything he wants - and, in return, receive everything she needs - if she accepts the psychic ties that bind them. And, of course, if she agrees to dice with death during their every performance, on stage and off. The central metaphor is arresting -- love as a daunting leap of faith and a reckless tempting of fate - and the supple storytelling is intoxicating. Filmed in the shimmering black-and-white of an Old Hollywood romance, "Girl on the Bridge" is ambitious, audacious -- and altogether astonishng.

Just for starters, this wonderful story is a masterpiece of editing, dialog, black-and-white photography, and enchantment. The soundtrack is phenomenal. I have seen "Girl on the Bridge" three times on the big screen and each time got lost in their world; the chemistry between Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis was sizzling on all levels. This little movie is absolutely absorbing, romantic and memorable. The only slight criticism I have is that sometimes the subtitles were illegible against white backgrounds; however, I was happy it was a French-language movie because it added an extra dimension to the characters...

This film single-handedly inspired me to travel through Europe, to learn the French language, to explore music from all over the world, and to expand my knowledge of French cinema. Who says movies don't change your life? This film is clearly very dear to me.
It is a fanstasy-like love story, but not so far-fetched if you truly believe in the power and mystery of love, and the connections two people can have with each other (no matter the distance apart). Oh, and the direction is outstanding! I couldn't tell you a favorite scene because each one is so beautiful-- everything!--The music, the words, the locations.
Also, it was my first film seeing Daniel Auteuil! I was mesmerized with his performance and I went out and started renting all of his films. He is amazing! I am so thankful for this film introducing me to him. Ahem...and may I say that he exudes sex appeal at every turn:)
Go RENT this film! It is a JOY! I cannot wait until it comes out on DVD!!

The old Hollywood formula, Boy Meets Girl, Cute, is given a nice French twist is this very funny and intriguing romantic comedy starring Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis. Paradis is Adele, a twenty-something waif who looks like a Parisian model except for the charming and disarming gap between her two front teeth. She's sur la pont and looking to jump off into the Seine. Auteuil appears as Gabor, a forty-something carnival knife thrower, looking for a new and more exciting target. He taunts her a little, shames her a bit. She gets insulted and jumps. He jumps in right after her.

Well, I have it on good report that Nora Ephron is jealous as hell. I mean wouldn't, say, Meg Ryan and Mel Gibson just be adorable meeting like this?

I...don't...think...so. For one thing, this would never work in the American cinema since one of the essentials is that the "boy" be twenty years older than the "girl" so that his patience with her frequent liaisons is plausible. Hollywood would have to find another slant on their relationship (something banal no doubt) and alter the ending to make it more romantic. But Hollywood can do that! Watch for the remake--a Nancy Meyers film, directed by Ephron--in theaters everywhere, circa 2010.

Since the script, containing some very witty dialogue by Serge Frydman, and the fine acting by Auteuil and Paradis, carry the show, Director Patrice Leconte was able to film this on the cheap in glorious black and white, which doesn't detract from the film at all. I didn't really notice there was no color until about twenty minutes in because I was so taken with, first, Paradis as the girl who could never say no, and then Auteuil who is funny, commanding, and obviously having a great time. By the way, the device of her being interviewed to open the film makes us think for a moment that we are being shown a video recording of that interview. Following a well-established cinematic convention of rendering video recordings in black and white, this makes our minds accept the black and white cinematography without question.

Paradis is child-like and sexy by turns. The scene after the train passes and she says to Gabor something like, "You KNOW what I want to do, and I want to do it NOW," leads to a rather strange, but clearly erotic, symbolic sexual experience. Paradis plays her part very well.

The theme is the mystery of capricious luck, believed in passionately by those who feel they have none, which is how Adele and Gabor feel before they meet each other. Together, however, they can call the number at roulette, win at the lottery, and find gold on the ground!

The enigmatic and rather predictable ending warrants some pondering. Are they going to live happily ever after as man and wife, lovers, or as a kind of father/daughter team? It's not clear, and that's deliberate. Draw your own conclusions, but don't miss this one. It's definitely worth seeing.

"The Girl on the Bridge" ("La Fille Sur Le Pont") is a rare gem of a film which can be a romantic comedy, a tragedy and a suspense film all rolled into one. With powerhouse performances from Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis, this film will have you laughing and squirming in your seat at the same time. I defy anyone to actually stop the film and make a cup of coffee. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

Paradis is a lonely, depressed 21 year old woman at the end of her rope. The opening scene is pure quality as her character, Adele, explains her frustration at the mercy of the love / sex dichotomy; her composure slowly crumbling along the way. She goes to a bridge in Paris to end it all and meets Gabor (Auteuil), a burnt out 40+ year-old circus knife thrower. Gabor explains that he stands on bridges looking for desperate women to partner him in his act. Rather than sacrificing his dignity in order to disuade her from suicide, Gabor resorts to reverse psychology and both of them wind up in the river. In the hands of an older man, Adele learns a level of self control she never had and Gabor gets the co-worker he has always wanted and needed. As a partnership, they are complete but it will depend on Adele's ability to deny herself the thing which has brought her undone for so long. Denying her fear in the act is easier.

The first time they appear in public, Gabor goes all-out to impress his audience, gambling on the symbiosis of their relationship with a maximum risk performance. The scene is truly gut wrenching and frightening; an exploration of the voyeurism in humans which will attract us to such an act. The brutality of the thump as the knife hits the backboard has them squirming in their seats and Adele and Gabor discover something new about themselves. They communicate even when they are apart. They can gamble together even when they are not together and luck is on their side. In the stage lights they are brilliant.

The scene at the rail yard in Italy examines their relationship in an off-stage performance which takes them to new heights as they both experience the erotic pleasure of danger and completeness to the haunting Marianne Faithfull song "Who Will take My Dreams Away?". Soon, however, Adele's period of sexual denial comes to an end and she leaves Gabor, resulting in their return to their previous luckless existences. The ending, for me, was a little predictable but it didn't detract from a film which is a guilty pleasure to watch.

Beautifully shot in black and white and featuring a lot of hand-held shots and snappy editing, the transfer has a lustrous quality to it and I simply could not imagine it in colour. The lighting is superb and renders a rich grey scale. The script is wonderful with a healthy helping of black humour and romantic tension. It has been said that the most romantic monent is the last breath before the first kiss. In this film that last breath goes for almost the entire film. Patrice Leconte is the only director I can think of who could have done this film justice and he delivers in a big way.

Top marks at all levels.

A very good movie -- too bad that this region 1 DVD (released July 1,
2008) is exactly the same thing as the previously available VHS tape:
white English subtitles (non-removable) are printed over the video
frame (often impossible to read when it is white on white).

The soundtrack is original French.
There are no other options or features on this DVD.

One of the familiar motifs encountered in suicides are bridges. Songs like Kim Wilde's "View From The Bridge" or Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up" describe the moments of despair one feels. The bridge is a one-way trip, a solution to all the problem one encounters, or as we see in an interview-style fashion with the female protagonist Adele, her being a magnet for bad luck, never picking the lucky number. She once describes herself as a vacuum cleaner, picking up all the dirt left behind.

Thus, in La Fille Sur Le Pont, 22-year old Adele is thus on a bridge and about to jump, but encounters the wide- and intense-eyed Gabor, a knife thrower in his late 40's or early 50's who recruits despairing women from bridges to be the target of his act. He sees potential in her: "I see a waste ahead and I hate waste. You don't trash a good light bulb." It's also more along the lines of "You were going to kill yourself anyway, if I miss and you die, so you've got nothing to lose."

Adele agrees and is transformed from a bit of a raggamuffin to a more chic, sophisticated look. The shopping scene set to Benny Goodman's "Swing Swing Swing" where she gets a new hairdo and delightedly tries on various outfits in dressing rooms signals a new start and chance for her. As Gabor tells her, "I'll make you into somebody." And somebody is defined as "somebody who laughs and takes life with ease."

However, a new look cannot disguise her outlook on love. In the interview, we learn that she believes every promise she hears, and she's unable to say no. She's impulsive, having an encounter with a train conductor in the loo. Her impulsiveness causes a split between them later on.

They are a hit in their debut, and the money comes in. Luck plays a big part in this film, as Adele realizes she does have luck after all, be it at the slots or at the casino. The thing that makes this luck possible is their being together as a winning team. More than that, but they have such an affinity that they speak to each other across the distance, when separated. Oh, and when they're separated, guess what happens to the luck? The regret of the separation is underscored by Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry" playing over the soundtrack.

Using black and white works well for this film, as it recalls films by Truffaut, Fellini, and Antonioni, to name a few. The stark intensity of black and white schematics are an asset when Gabor performs his art with Adele as his target. Those scenes are the highlights, Gabor's intense gaze of concentration as his rate of throwing increases. With each knife that thuds on target, we hear a gasp from Adele, dressed in slinky outfits. The high point has to be the Wheel of Death aboard an Italian cruise ship.

Model, singer, and now actress. I'm learning more about Vanessa Paradis, whose debut album I have, and she's likeable as Adele. I'd only seen Daniel Auteil (Gabor) as the villanious Ugolin in Jean De Florette and Manon Des Sources, but he's quite an interesting character here.

As for bridges, well, think on it. Bridges were built to take people over previously impassable routes and also as transitions between borders. In Adele's case, it was from a life of no-luck, no future to that of luck and a future. She was waiting for something to happen to her, and it did, in an unimaginable way. The view from the bridge can be downward into the watery depths, but straight ahead, the perspective is different.