The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.
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6 films that influenced The Bridges of Madison County
What critics say influenced The Bridges of Madison County
In some ways, Bridges reminds me of The Rose Tattoo, the Tennessee Williams-based film starring Anna Magnani and Burt Lancaster.
"The Bridges of Madison County" from 1995 is an old-fashioned love story for adults, an updated "Brief Encounter" if you will, and as such it's probably the gentlest film Eastwood has ever made.
The film fits securely into the tradition begun before there were even movies, but given its finest cinematic expression in Brief Encounter : the "single spark of joy in a life of constant routine" tragic love story.
Eastwood and LaGravenese adopt the rough form of classic movie melodramas like Brief Encounter or All That Heaven Allows, but render the clichés so realistically that the ache runs deeper.
Eastwood and LaGravenese adopt the rough form of classic movie melodramas like Brief Encounter or All That Heaven Allows, but render the clichés so realistically that the ache runs deeper.
Granted, Eastwood has leaned in that direction from time to time in films ranging from the the little-seen May-December romance "Breezy," which he directed but that starred William Holden, and his country-western melodrama "Honky Tonk Man."
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Actually, between Bridges and Don Juan DeMarco, 1995 has so far proved to be a good (if you really want to call a sum total of two âgoodâ) year for the depiction of romance amongst the over-40 set.
Richard LaGravenese ( "The Fisher King" ) did the best he could with the screenplay, but, after all, he had to adapt that dreadful book.
The deeply romantic screenplay by Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King) probes the poetics of desire and yearning which draw these two together as soulmates.
And by shifting focus to the Italian-born Francesca, screenwriter Richard LaGravenese ("The Fisher King") has given Streep ample reason to accept the role of a woman who, as Kincaid observes, is "anything but simple."