Review: Bridges of Madison County

Originally posted atEpinions

By what definition does a romance become great? Is it the doomed fate of Romeo and Juliet or is it the triumphant happily ever after of Cinderella? We all go through life searching for that elusive great love. How often do any of us get to find it?

Bridges of Madison County is the story of a great, brief, love affair. Francesca Johnson and Robert Kincaid meet over a weekend in rural Madison County in 1965. Francesca lives a quiet farm life. Her husband has taken the children to the state fair for the weekend when Kincaid shows up. He is a photographer on assignment for National Geographic magazine and is there to photograph the famous bridges of Madison County. Francesca offers to help him find his way and as they spend more time together, the attraction between them grows.

The movie is filled with tender moments of hinted at desire, expressions of frustration, and acknowledgements that a relationship between them can never be. With all of that, I was honestly expecting something more. More tension, more sympathy, something more personal. As it is, the movie is good, really good; it’s just not great.

The talent behind the film is excellent though. Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood are Francesca and Kincaid. Streep got quite a bit of attention for her performance (an Oscar nomination for Best Actress among other things) and rightly so. Her expression of emotions is powerful. Eastwood has a strong presence as always and the chemistry between them is certainly believable.

Eastwood directs and as much as I love Clint Eastwood I think that may be part of the problem. I love Eastwood for his westerns, for his films with a more male perspective. The viewpoint that works so well for something like Unforgiven does not give us the same insight that Bridges of Madison County would have benefited from.

I will say this though. It’s a beautiful film. Jack Green’s cinematography truly takes advantage of the rural setting. Combined with Eastwood’s direction, the warm images captured are definitely my favorite thing about the movie. It evokes a distinct feeling of nostalgia that makes me long for summer. It’s a feeling that fits the story perfectly.

While the visuals are its strength, the narrative structure is its greatest flaw. Adapted from the novel by Robert Waller, the story is told through the narrative device of a frame story. Which is just awful, especially the acting. Where Streep's performance is spot on, the acting of her grown children is forced and seems fit more for a TV movie than a Clint Eastwood epic. It was also frustrating how the frame would continually interrupt the flow of the narrative. We would be involved with Francesca and Kincaid, waiting anxiously for what was next, only to have the grown children thrust back into our focus. Their poor voice over narration would interrupt Streep and Eastwood’s dialogue and I would be taken completely out of the film.

So overall I guess what I feel towards the film can be best described as ambivalence. I enjoyed it, I’m glad I watched it, but I’m in no rush to see it again. I’m not going to force it upon my unsuspecting friends. Or at least, any more than I all ready have (my roommate watched with me). So for my recommendation I will say this: If you’re a fan of romance, Clint Eastwood, or Meryl Streep you should definitely see this film. It will be worth your time. Otherwise, I don’t think this is a must see.

The DVD is nothing to write home about. No real features or anything like that. Just the movie for your viewing pleasure.