Customer Reviews

Girl on the Bridge - DVD

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I fell in love with this whimsical and delightful film the first moment I saw it. Since then I have purchased it on DVD and watched it again. The same feeling came over me. What a gem.

The plot is engaging enough. A girl (Vanessa Paradis), who feels her life isn't worth living anymore, is standing on the edge of a bridge contemplating suicide when a stranger (Daniel Auteuil) comes along and rescues her from her fate. He turns out to be a lonely knife-thrower looking for an assistant who will join him as he performs across Europe. They strike up a strange and remarkable friendship. They both give each other luck and they are very successful. But when they go their separate ways, they find themselves lost and abandoned realising that they need each other more than ever and there's a spark when they're together. Cause when they are alone their luck dissolves into nothing.

It's a magical and delightful piece about companionship and always trusting the one who cares the world about you. Held together by two mesmerising performances from Vanessa Paradis and Daniel Auteuil, this is one film that only the French could pull off so well. If Hollywood had made it I feel it would have been a disaster. The French seem to have a knack for making films like this. They do it so well and they manage to pull it off with assurance. This film is a lovely French gem and I should add that it works rather well in black and white. A french beauty.

I would like to finish by saying that this is possibly my favourite foreign language film I've seen.

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.

A girl with hard luck in love meets up with a destitute knife thrower as she is about to jump off a bridge to her death. They base an act and latent romance on luck and telekinesis. He talks to her when she is about to go wrong outside of his presence and she answers back in perfect syncopation. She twirls on a wheel and he jams knives close to her skin near enough to maim or spiral her into ecstasy. She [blanks] every man who shows the slighest interest in her and he makes snide remarks and introduces new impossible tricks to his arsenal of sideshow cutlery. All in all the movie is a farce but very believable. Even the propped up rainbow is golden beneath.

Simply boring. Too long/slow. Maybe it is because it doesn't meet the American audience's expectations of what a movie should be like. I almost fell asleep. Too bad, I liked the actors.

If you're up for a bit of Gallic weirdness, GIRL ON THE BRIDGE should certainly fill the bill. It's beautifully shot in very evocative black and white--visually effective even if the plot is glorified TWILIGHT ZONE cum romance novel. Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis make for a lovely (platonic) couple. Lovers of moody art cinema could doubtless do worse. Still it seems to come up short in the emotional impact department. When style and substance get conflated, you sometimes end up with very interesting results. Here, though, despite the best effors of all concerned, the results are only moderately interesting.

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.

The movie's theme of knife-throwing as the basis for the odd friendship or partnership between an older circus performer and a young girl is one of the more creative ideas I've seen in a while. The dialog has an almost stream-of-consciousness aspect to it, as Adele and Gabor banter back and forth about everything. Although the phallic penetration metaphor of the knife-throwing is obvious, that's really not what the movie is about. It's about exploring the relationship between two damaged souls who, like the torn halves of the bill in the movie, are useless apart, but form a functioning whole when brought together. This is underscored by the fact that the only time Gabor misses with a knife in the movie is when Adele leaves and he is forced to find another partner/target. As Gabor said, "Knife throwing becomes unpredictable after age 40"--and so even as a knife-thrower Gabor is now useless--unless he throws at Adele. Another odd twist to the plot is Gabor's finally revealing to Adele that he was about to jump himself when he rescued her, so they really have been saving each other all along. The movie comes full circle at the end, when she discovers him about to jump off the bridge in Istanbul, and they're reunited. This is a touching and very creative film about two quirky, neurotic, and damaged people who's only real happiness in life comes from their equally odd relationship.

This is one of the most beautifully shot films ever made. The black and white cinematography by Jean-Marie Dreujou is stunning. I am glad to have seen this on the big screen to appreciate it. The photography in this film alone is worth the price of the DVD or tape.

Gabor is a 40-something professional knife-thrower, who saves Adele, a down on her luck 20-something, from a suicide attempt. She becomes his assistant. They fall in love but neither admits it. Although she and Gabor never consummate their relationship, they develop a deep - nearly mystical bond.

This film has more to say about the nature of relationships than most reviews I've read give it credit for. Adele has sex with just about every man she meets. However, Gabor - though he loves her, chooses not to take that path in his relationship with Adele. He would much rather maintain his loving relationship with his assistant than ruin its purity by having sex with her. (That or he's concerned about an STD...) Knife throwing acts as a substitute for sex and, though his love for Adele is intense, he tolerates her numerous encounters with understanding rather than jealousy. As Gabor and Adele's relationship grows, good fortune follows them. Apart, and their worlds begin to crumble.

Yet one may consider Gabor a tragic figure. Adele is young and impetuous. She doesn't fully appreciate Gabor, nor do you get the sense she has the emotional capacity to reciprocate the intensity of Gabor's feelings toward her.

Girl on the Bridge is a little gem. It is a unique metaphysical - rather than physical, love story. The film makes a statement that finding a true soulmate is "literally" magical and happens through extreme good fortune. Such a bond is rare, intense, and transcends carnal needs.

The movie is excellent. The soundtrack is tremendous. Does anyone know how to obtain the soundtrack?

girl on the bridge was the first movie i saw with vanessa paradis in it. i was just getting to know her too. i had bought all of her albums and was very eager to see her acting. i was not disapointed. this is probably the most beautiful i will ever see in all of my life. in black & white, yes, but from the cinematography you can almost see all of the colors ever so nicely.

and the music--oh the music! marianne faithfull's haunting song "who will take my dreams away" while the knives were being thrown literally put chills up my spine, as well as drive me to tears. the tension and power of this movie was incredible. benny goodman's "swing swing swing", and "goodbye" was excellent. with the middle-eastern flavored music, it gives the film an exquisite feeling. i've been wanting for awhile to find the soundtrack to this movie, but have had no such luck.

vanessa paradis was absolutely stunning as adele. she brought the character to life. in the opening scene, when she is talking with the doctor-like person, it was only the first take, and vanessa's performance was so natural they decided to keep it. she is a devine actress, and puts her best towards all of her films and music. such a joy, she is.

daniel auteil's character as gabor was outstanding. through watching the movie, you just got used to him, and used to his ways. i almost felt like i was friends with him at the end. he almost had a fatherly-like instinct over adele, but you could obviously tell there was something more than that going on. you could sense his fear and excitement as he threw the knives at adele, each time hoping he wouldn't miss. and you know what? he never did.

the chemistry between adele and gabor is something i've never seen. gabor seems almost protective about adele, and wants to guide her in the right direction. he is willing to give up everything just to help put adele's life in order. and when they are with eachother, they find it brings them the most luck they've ever had. they learn that the only way to survive, is to be with one another.

all in all, it's a beautiful tale of two lonely people who need someone to love them. and when they finally find eachother, they can never leave, for unlucky things would happen to them. they find that they cannot live unless they are together.

girl on the bridge is one of those movies that will haunt you for the rest of your life.

it's a superbly funny, romantic, and chilling drama. the best film of 1999, and even more so, my favorite film of all time.

if you're going to see a movie, see this one, even if you're not a fan of foreign films. it is so worth it.