The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers (WGA):

Robert James Waller (novel)
Richard LaGravenese (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 junio 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson, for four days in the 1960s.

Plot Keywords:

Life Lesson | Male Female Relationship | Loneliness | Husband Wife Relationship | Older Man Younger Woman

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 6 wins & 6 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

There won't be a dry eye in the house!

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Robert Kincaid
Meryl Streep	...	Francesca Johnson
Annie Corley	...	Carolyn Johnson
Victor Slezak	...	Michael Johnson
Jim Haynie	...	Richard Johnson
Sarah Kathryn Schmitt	...	Young Carolyn
Christopher Kroon	...	Young Michael
Phyllis Lyons	...	Betty
Debra Monk	...	Madge
Richard Lage	...	Lawyer Peterson
Michelle Benes	...	Lucy Redfield
Alison Wiegert	...	Child #1
Brandon Bobst	...	Child #2
Pearl Faessler	...	Wife
R.E. 'Stick' Faessler	...	Husband

También conocida como:

Puentes de Madison, Los (Argentina) (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 on appeal for some sexuality and brief strong language.

Duración:

135 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

New Zealand:M | Iceland:L | Philippines:R-18 | South Korea:15 | France:Unrated | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Germany:12 (w) | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #33820) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:R(A)

Filming Locations:

Adel, Iowa, USA

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivialidades:

Robert James Waller finished his manuscript in eleven days, intending it to be simply a gift for various friends and family. One of his friends was so impressed with the manuscript, he asked if he could try to interest a literary agent in the work. Waller later received a life-changing call from a New York agent who asked, "...Robert, where have you been all my life?"

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Francesa and Robert are standing in the kitchen one night, the kitchen window over the sink shows it is dark outside. The camera swings to a shot of the refrigerator and in the background is a window but instead of being dark it is daylight outside.

Quotes:

Francesca: I realized love won't obey our expectations, it's mystery is pure and absolute.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield (1997) (VG)

Soundtrack:

I See Your Face Before Me

There won't be a dry eye in the house!

On the page "The Bridges of Madison County" often read like a reject from Mills and Boon and yet it was tremendously popular. People who normally wouldn't read this sort of thing were not only reading it but quoting it. You could say that for some people it held the kind of camp appeal that bad books sometimes do for the so-called intelligentsia. Personally, I am inclined to think that its tale of middle-aged romance struck a cord. It may not have been well-written but many people recognized in its two central characters a reflection of themselves. It spoke of a great passion and a great loss; a "Brief Encounter" for the nineties. Still, it never quite seemed like a vehicle for Clint Eastwood; (once upon a time you might have envisaged Arthur Hiller doing it), yet here it is, larger than life on the big screen and utterly lovely, utterly heart-breaking.

Perhaps Eastwood chose to film it as a vehicle for himself. He wears the mantle of the ageing Lothario perfectly at an age when most romantic leads are played by much younger men, (or are simply non-existent), yet who blanched when Gary Cooper or Cary Grant were wooing Audrey Hepburn well into their old age. Admittedly Eastwood isn't entirely comfortable in this sort of role. He's not a versatile actor. His best performances have been as tortured losers or just old-fashioned tough guys but under his own direction he blossoms here. Of course, the 'romantic' in Eastwood has never been hard to find. You need look only to the scores he has composed. (He has written the main love theme here and his use of classic jazz standards by the likes of Dinah Washington and Johnny Hartman adds considerably to the film's beating heart).

What is remarkable is that essentially Eastwood's film is really something of a chamber piece for two players. A few other characters flit into the frame but for most of the time there is no one on screen but Eastwood and co-star Meryl Streep and this is one of Streep's great performances. As Francesca, the woman who finds in Eastwood's photographer Robert the one great passion in her life albeit briefly and at a time when the likelihood of such a thing happening was remote indeed, Streep is extraordinary. Sometimes Streep can overwhelm a project; her versatility doesn't always work in favour of lesser material. But here she seems to have tapped quite effortlessly, not just into the consciousness of her character, but into her very soul as well. And if that sounds cheesy, let me assure you it isn't. Cheesiness isn't in Streep's vocabulary, even if it is in mine! Perhaps Eastwood was able to discern in Robert James Waller's novel the seeds of a great love story or perhaps he just felt he could bring his artistry to bear on some unlikely source material. Whatever, it's paid off. On screen "The Bridges of Madison County" is a great love story; there won't be a dry eye in the house.