The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

Powerful

I'll tell you why so serious

Expected more

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This was the first time that I watched Clint Eastwood as an actor. I knew who he was, but as a teenage girl, I wasn't interested in cowboys and Dirty Harry. But this love story was a huge hit, so I decided to watch it, in spite of Clint Eastwood. I expected a different sort of character, maybe more in line with Dirty Harry, but he seemed sweet. I also didn't expect to like him as an actor more than Meryl Streep, because Meryl was considered such a great actress and Clint was just a gunslinger. But then I realized that I preferred that kind of acting, simply based on presence, an actor who's not afraid to show who he is. And my female gaze loved the shirtless Clint. I just love it when an artist is full of surprises.

Enduring happiness with a "soul mate" is a goal to which most people would aspire. Concluding you've found it after a 4-day encounter is probably not the wisest decision you will ever make. It's an exciting escape, but of questionable value upon which to build a relationship. In only 4 days, they've already have two arguments. Francesca's family lets the door slam, which bothers her, but she takes no issue with Richard sitting at the dinner table and flicking his cigarette ashes on the floor. How long would that tolerance last? She plays Italian opera on the radio (does such a station really exist in rural Iowa?), which her children rudely change without even asking. Yet, she doesn't seem to care that the radio plays light jazz (not Italian opera) when Richard is there. Richard "helps" her in the kitchen for probably a grand total of 2 minutes while she does all the prep, cooking, and clean-up. True "love" is blind, I guess. A sentimental tale, but not realistic. And definitely not a moral lesson.

This is a film I'll never forget, especially after seeing it about a dozen times. But what makes this movie so unforgettable, aside from Meryl Streep's and Clint Eastwood's honest performances, is what it reveals about married life, especially mature relationships.Yes, this film is heartbreaking, but above all, it is an honest reflection about what the heart really wants, despite ones better judgment, and ultimately the compromises we all must face in our lifetime and the feelings we must suppress and deny, even at the expense of finding true happiness.This film is an absolute revelation about family, the sacrifices we make, and the circumstances we must settle for. Yet, it is also a story of loyalty and the difficult choices we face and live with, despite our deepest and most forbidden desires of the heart.

After seeing bits and pieces of this film on too many occasions, I finally sat down to really watch it. For what seems like forever, I have known that this is the quintessential "chick flick" that makes women swoon and cry. Huh?I found it formulaic and foolish. Hmmm, 4 days? Four days, you decide that a guy ambling through town is the love of your life? Hollywood is pathetic. I kept trying to care about these people and about the cliché'd housewife who agonizes over whether to leave her husband and her children and run off with a guy she just met. We love and romanticize what we don't have and take for granted what we do. --Especially since we only see their best side in the beginning, while trying to compare that with the reality in which we live. Hollywood loves and elevates the superficial and denigrates truth and reality. It's possible that the only way lovers like these could remain in love with such a fantasy is precisely because they never dealt with real life together. It might not have been so romantic. Maybe they would even have discovered that they weren't as compatible as they thought. Still, the mysterious man of the world "that got away" is what makes women cry. I'll tell you what I find romantic. The couple who has been through hell and back together and still get butterflies at the sight of one another.On top of all of that.......Streep is overrated in this. If that was an Italian accent, I wonder what Czechoslovakian sounds like.