I was talking to a friend this morning and he mentioned how Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, the Hindi film by Karan Johar made a mockery of adultery and marital life. That got me thinking, “Are there any films that have handled the subject in a convincing, realistic and believable manner?”
Right after the answer struck me, I decided to write this review. If you haven’t already guessed, the answer of course is the 1995 Hollywood movie “The Bridges of Madison County” and the friend is ….! Got you there, didn’t I?
This deeply moving, soulful film is based on the best selling novel The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller. It stars Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood in the two lead roles. Eastwood also produced and directed this flick. As a viewer I was deeply moved by this film, but I find it extremely hard to put a finger on exactly what moved me so much. Here’s my attempt.
This is not a conventional story about adultery as some mistakenly assume and it is also not a conventional love story. It is that aesthetically pleasing perfect blend of both!
The movie opens when a woman named Francesca is already dead and has left a will to her two children. Both her son and daughter now middle-aged adults visit their family home in Madison county to take care of their mother’s possessions and to meet the attorney who wrote their mother’s will.
They first find out that Francesca has made a strange request. She desired that after her death, her body be cremated and the ashes sprayed over the covered bridges of Madison County. After this discovery, the son and the daughter come upon their mother’s diary, which they begin to read.
The story shifts to flashback.
Streep is Francesca Johnson, a lonely, disillusioned Italian housewife living in Iowa on a farm with her husband and two kids. Though she takes good care of her family and deeply loves them, it is obvious that she is bored and desires some time of her own. It is for this reason that she does not accompany her family when they make a trip to the Illinois state fair. They are gone for four days and these four days and four nights would forever remain the most precious moments of life for Francesca.
It is at this time that Robert Kincaid(Clint Eastwood), a divorced, traveling photojournalist working for the National Geographic, comes to the small Iowa town where Francesca lives, in order to shoot the covered bridges for a photographical essay that he is working on. He meets Francesca when he stops at the Johnsons’ ranch to ask for directions. Francesca offers to show him the way and accompanies him to the bridge. Thus begins an aesthetic, soulful, sensitive love story between two adults, one of whom is married.
The chemistry between the two is simply amazing and soon sparks fly. Francesca invites him back to her place for dinner and he accepts. Once he shows up, they swap stories, quote W.B. Yeats, laugh together, drink and even dance.
Love is not shown to be happening suddenly and in several subtle moments we are shown the growing attraction and love between Francesca and Robert. They soon become lovers and find ecstatic joy in each other’s company. The viewer can actually “see” Francesca’s heart soaring.
At the end of the four day period, when it is time for Robert to leave he suggests she go with him.
This option is extremely appealing to Francesca who not only loves Robert but also loves his lifestyle involving a lot of travel to exotic locations. She however, keeping in view her family(yet to return from the state fair) turns it down, because she feels it is more important to stay with her family than to live only to make herself happy.
The two lovers separate to never again see each other in person. Years later Francesca receives news that Robert passed away and his wish is to have his ashes scattered on the bridges of the Madison county.
Forty years later, her children discover the affair when they come upon her diary. Inspired by their mother’s actions the son decides to renew his commitment to his marriage. The daughter however decides to get a divorce from an unhappy marriage.
On a personal note:
Clint Eastwood challenged himself when he decided to play the role of Robert Kincaid. He pulled it off with tremendous success and literally breathed in the photographer’s skin.
Eastwood fans and people, who usually associate Eastwood with cowboy roles, would be really surprised to see him in such a romantic avatar!
Meryl Streep IS Francesca Johnson; there are no two ways about it. Every nuance and every gesture of hers, especially combined with her voice was mesmerizing. No wonder she was nominated for Academy’s Best Actress award for this movie. Not only is the film about her character but it is also HER film! She shines in each and every scene and leaves a lasting impression on the viewer long after the film has ended.
The realistic settings, the natural performances by the two lead actors and the film’s pace kept me glued to my seat.
Some friends of mine said that this film made adultery look somehow noble. I did not agree. In the movie, it is never implied that Francesca was fully justified in having an affair. Neither did the movie show her husband Richard Johnson to be a bad man. Like Francesca tells Robert “He is very clean, hard working, a good father.” If the makers of the movie wanted to justify her affair they could have easily portrayed her husband as a bad man or worse. But they didn’t and that’s one of the reasons why I consider this to be a story that was treated with maturity.
In my opinion it is simply about a forbidden love between two soul mates and consenting adults one of whom is married to a gentleman therefore making the circumstances in which they fell in love to be wrong.
I especially liked the scene where Francesca asks Robert about how one can live only to do what they want? She also tells him that “we are the choices we make.” I LOVED the dialogue between them where they converse about various aspects of the human experience.
A sensitive topic such as this could have been messed up in many different ways. But kudos to Eastwood, and the screenplay(by Richard LaGravenese) the end product is a deeply moving, powerful, sensitive depiction of a soulful tale of a true love that belongs to a past that is now lost.
