Customer Reviews

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't know why so many people always give short shrift to Paul Newman when he appears with his wife, Joanne Woodward, in a film. They are both stunning actors at the peak of their acting powers in this movie. There really is no need to compare and contrast perfection itself. Merchant-Ivory is wonderful at handling the upper classes, whether they be British or American, in London, or, in this case, Kansas City, in the 1930s and 1940s. What stands out most vividly to me is that Mr. Bridges' heart condition is really not treatable back then. We are so used to heart surgery now, that life lived with a heart condition back in the 1930s and 1940s is forgotten as being an entirely different situation. The movie is about this couple and their extended family and the crises they weather. This, however, is basically what every Merchant-Ivory film is about and this one covers every nuance within the Bridges' family's structure and behavior. I really love the beautiful body of film work by Merchant-Ivory and I'm really glad that some of it is American, set in our heartland, with the cream of our acting crop.

If you are looking for violence, lots of sex and fast cars, wrong movie! But if you are looking for a thought provoking, tender, poignant and often funny story, you've hit the jackpot. I am running out of adjectives for my two favorite actors (Newman and Woodward ought to be declared America's royalty) They shine here. Much deserved Oscar nomination for Woodward and should have been one for Newman, who never ceases to amaze. Blythe Danner is a plus as well. I thouroughly enjoyed it.

Both Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward perform expertly in this adaptation of the Evan S. Connell novels. Newman is Walter Bridge, a stiff, by-the-book, passionless man, and Woodward his reticent, subservient wife, India. Although Woodward is unhappy in this relationship, the movie is not about an oafish, bullying husband and his dominated wife - it's a lot more subtle than that. Set in the 1930s, it's a time when the upper crust was still expected to act this way (although times were a-changing). Intelligent in a way lost to Hollywood in recent times, the movie doesn't take any of the shortcuts one might expect. The characters are not black and white, good and evil; they have interesting shadings about them - and our feelings about them and responses to them are also shaded. It's a very good movie; definitely worth a watch.

I adore this movie. The performances of Paul and Joanne are near perfect. This is no "leave it to beaver " family but a group of individuals all struggling to make sense of their surroundings and ultimately failing to connect with each other. India is the most touching character, estranged from her family, she seeks solace in her best friend. The last scene was a touch puzzling, but I figured it was meant to represent Mrs. Bridge's isolation and helplessness. I thought Blythe Danner was excellent too as the kooky wife battling the bourgeois conformity that surrounded her.

This is one of those films with a lot of those "Memorable Moments" that you will remember years after viewing it. The scene where Mr. Bridge refuses to let a dangerous storm spoil his dinner. The hotel bedroom scene where Mr. and Mrs. Bridge find themselves sleeping akwardly in front of a mirror. The scene where Mr. Bridge takes Mrs. Bridge to a cabaret in France filled with scantily clad women doing the Can-Can and the priceless look that Mrs. Bridge has on her face.

It's about two traditional people thrust into a new world filled with free thinkers and sexual awakenings and the honest, but humerous reactions as they try to deal with it all. Everytime I watch this film I'm suprised at what I didn't catch before, and even the scenes I remember always seem to catch me off guard.

The humor comes from the humanity within the two main characters, and it's often more funny than the best comedies you will ever watch.

Highly recommended!

The movie follows the story of a couple, Walter and India Bridge (Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward), as they traverse the complexity of their long relationship as husband and wife and as parents to three children. The movie doesn't really have a plot, nothing really happens to move any story along. Instead the movie presents a series of vignettes that depicts different situations and events in their marriage from the mundane and unremarkable things to the more weighty things. All of those scenes were presented with such understated grace and simplicity. The movie doesn't exaggerate the emotions of the characters as well as consciously define the different characters in a black and white manner. There are wonderful and three dimensional characters in this movie that are elusive and flawed and vague, just like real human beings.

I think one of the most obvious differences between Walter and India is that Walter is someone whom emotions do not freely present itself to people. He's reserved and private. India is the exact opposite. The character in the course of the movie acted from being naive and optimist, to being hurt and disappointed, to being vulnerable and yearning, and to depressed and content. She's the most emotional character in the movie. And somehow because of that their love (the three dimensional kind, meaning no bells are ringing and no fireworks are exploding) for each other that made India want once in a while be verbalized just for reassurance.

Walter may not be the most ideal husband, but there's no doubt in my mind that he loves his wife. There's a scene in the movie where the couple had a fight and Walter tried to reassure his love for his wife by asking her to sit in his lap. Another scene is when he tried to console India after being hurt by his son's actions during a school activity by holding her hands without saying anything. I love how those little scenes were shown instead of being told.

The performances were topnotch. Some people say that Paul Newman was miscast and I could not disagree more. He was believable and understated. The role suits him quite well from the way the character looks and dresses, to that intellectual sound of his voice, and to that minimalist acting that he gave. Joanne Woodward provided a gamut of emotions in her performance in the most unaffected and realistic way. She's a knockout in this movie.

In the end we learned that Walter's son and his son became lawyers just like him and formed the firm Bridges and Bridges and Bridges. That pretty much implies how Walter was able to pass on his emotional detachment. How basically his son and his grandson would turn out just like him. But the movie doesn't really have an ending. This is one of those movies that doesn't seem to have any conclusions. The movie ended in the same manner the movie started, a glimpse in the life of an ordinary family doing ordinary things.

Grade: A-

There is so much good to say about "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge." As usual, the Merchant/Ivory team produce quality work that looks good, sounds good, plays well, and makes the viewer both think and feel. It draws us in and gets us involved with the characters. Although the stories are often slight, the characters involved wouldn't think so because this is their lives we're watching. This production team knows how to thrive in this setting, and this film is no exception. Trying to pin down the relationship between the title characters is as elusive as with any real people, which is a rare and wonderful thing in the entertainment world. Too often writers and directors feel they have to bludgeon us over the head with messages and obvious black/white issue statements that preach.

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge obviously love each other dearly; he is wholly devoted to her, faithful, protective, and tender to a fault so that she is sheltered. Consequently their children have little respect for her, the rich lady with a maid who fusses over them like children as they go off to college, to a career, or to war. Mr. & Mrs. Bridge are not comfortable with the way society around them is changing.

There are a huge number of beautifully understated moments in the screenplay and in its onscreen execution. Every moment feels authentic....except that I can't get over the feeling that Paul Newman is awfully miscast in this role. Mr. Bridge is so uptight he squeaks when he walks, and it's not his shoes. This is not the Paul Newman we know from a long career of playing hustlers, con men, and disreputable scalawags. Although he often manages to pull off the extremely responsible Mr. Bridge, it's often difficult for the audience to get past seeing him race cars, shoot pool, or dig a ditch on a chain gang as we have over the years. Some actors could pull this off; Newman falls just short. Fortunately he is surrounded by others who wear their characters as neatly as he wears his suit. Newman playing the title role really interferes with the story.

Worse than that is the ending, which basically comes out of nowhere. There is no payoff, emotional or otherwise; it simply feels like the film broke during the final reel and the projectionist simply brought up the house lights rather than fix it. This also comes at the end of a scene that begins equally abruptly, as if something important had wound up on the cutting room floor, when the Bridges' son shows up in Air Corps uniform although the audience is never told he had been anywhere but at home, and apparently several months or years have passed. The whole ending act is thus completely out of kilter...and then it's over.

Newman's past history and the final act of the film, however, don't ruin a remarkable character study in repression, rebellion, and self-control to the point of anal retention. "Mr. & Mrs. Bridge" is a most remarkable film that can be greatly enjoyed by any intelligent person over age 25; I doubt many younger folks would have matured enough to appreciate the subtleties of the characters, their situations, and their relationships. And in the end, that's all this film is about.

Episodic and disjointed, this contraction of Connell's 2 novels never really gels. There doesn't seem to have been a direction plan established. Ivory's transitions are blunt and graceless and his camera blocking appears arbitrary. Little dramatic power is built up and the film just kind of ends.

Like the human body, it is often the connective tissue of a movie that creates structure and definition. Here that is mostly ignored, with the result that you see in Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.

It is just a wonderful movie that did not get any play in the theatre or anywhere else. I rented it for the first time because of the cast and loved it, that is why I have added it to my collection. If we all live long enough we will go through the same thing, it's also a different period of time, but I could relate since I was on the fringe of that generation and as I look at things now maybe it was not all that bad. We have lost such an icon in Paul Newman,but I am glad that his wife is still with us. That is another thing that makes this movie so wonderfu is that Joann Woodward stars in it as his wife. They are always great and wonderful together. I'm so glad to have been able to follow Mr. Newman's career, as I'm 70y/o and saw it from the beginning.It seems that we are so caught up in special effects that we have forgotten what it's like to see a movie that is just a GOOD story and this one meets all those requirements and more. The special effects are Good acting and Great actors. ENJOY!!!

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are brilliantly composed and controlled in this very quiet, very sincere film by James Ivory. The film for the most part is very well done, and it can be very emotionally stirring in scenes, but the film rests solely on the shoulders of the very fine cast which elevate what could have been a dull film into a film that one should make a point to see.

In other words; the film as a whole is not as strong as its stars.

`Mr. & Mrs. Bridge' tells the story of the Bridge family as they try and keep themselves together through the 30's and 40's. The father, Walter, is a controlling and almost domineering man. The mother, India, is lost within herself, not quite sure where her place is within her own home. The children all seem to rebel in their own ways; Ruth desiring to become an actress in New York, Carolyn desiring to marry a man beneath her socially and Douglas desiring to quit school and join the Air Force. These five individuals make up a very interesting yet ultimately average household during the World War II era.

James Ivory has a very crisp and elegant way of painting a film, and he executes this film beautifully as well. The only issue I have with `Mr. & Mrs. Bridge' is that it is so quiet and so smooth that it almost falls into the category of uninteresting at times. It can come off rather bland (it took me three sittings to watch it all the way through because I kept falling asleep). It's not that the film isn't interesting or that the characters aren't fleshed out wonderfully (and by god, the film is beautifully acted), it's just that the fluidity of the film is almost too relaxing. There is nothing sharp and jolting that shakes us in our boots. Even when drama is unfolding, as it does when family friend Grace Barron begins to lose her mind, it unfolds in such a serene manor that it feels less urgent than it probably should.

If one watches the film early enough in the day (I have a problem with starting films far too late in the evening) then one should be able to make it through in one setting.

While the overall construction of the film may cause our attention to wane a tad, it is important to note that the performances by the entire cast work extra hard to reel us back in. The two main stars are glorious, but even the supporting players all pull out all the stops here. Blythe Danner is such a brilliant actress, and her portrayal of Grace is really the most stirring in the entire film. She pops up at just the right moment to keep our attention firmly planted in the film. Kyra Sedgwick is darling as Ruth, but she is upstaged by Margaret Welsh who slinks into Carolyn with effortless grace. Robert Sean Leonard was one of those young actors who was always outshone by his co-stars (by Hawke in `Dead Poets Society' and by Bale in `Swing Kids') yet he always was consistently putting in a very good performance. This is no exception.

But yes, this movie belongs to Newman and Woodward. It is very understandable by Woodward was nominated for the Oscar this year, but it's astounding to me that Newman was not. If Woodward sets the emotional tone for the film, it is Newman who helps develop it. His nuanced portrayal of the very conservative Walter is so naturally commanding. Joanne is heartbreaking as India, and her emotional struggle throughout the film is wonderfully developed for us. They make such a splendid pair.

I will say that I was very unimpressed with the end of the film. It builds itself up as if it is going to have this harrowing climax (which really would have been welcome) and instead ends on a rather quite and reserved note. I can't really complain too much, for the film is wonderfully done and is really technically impeccable, it just lacks any real oomph. This is not a film one can watch over and over again, but the performances make it well worth at least one ride. I just wish that the approach to some of the material had been a little edgier maybe, a little more drastic so that it would have made a bigger impact. It could have been an A+ film, really, but will have to settle with a B from me.