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For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

An Exercise In Nonsense

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The title of this film is appropriate and describes well what the outcome of the conflict will be. Gerard Depardieu, working with co-director Frederic Auburtin, take us back to a not too distant past to an easier time. The flavor of the film is typically French.It's easy to see why Mina, the ravishing looking young woman at the center of the story, seems bored with her present situation. She has married a man that is, in some ways, a loser, to her eyes. Georges doesn't seem to share the same interests Mina, especially for the movies. Georges, an unemployed man, prefers to spend his time at the local pub, playing cards and drinking. As a couple, one wonders what has kept them together so long. She is a beautiful woman and it's hard to see what attracted her to Georges.Mina, on the other hand, jumps at the offer she gets from Claire, a wealthy woman in her town, who offers her a job as a housekeeper. When she meets Matthias, Mina loses all inhibitions and becomes involved with this man that is the opposite of her husband. Tommy, the son, plays a significant part in the affair. Mina has involved him from the start; this young man, instead of being horrified by what his mother is doing, shows a perverse side when he goes along in keeping his mother' secret.The last scene of the film offers a poignant reflection on the movie in that Mina and Georges' separation is permanent, as their lives have taken them in different directions.Carole Bouquet is a gorgeous woman. By pairing her opposite Gerard Depardieu, the contrast is even more evident. Despite of the costumes she is made to wear, one can see in her Mina an elegance that tells us she does not belong in this marriage, or this town. Mr. Depardieu's Georges is a man that reacts with resignation to the break up. By being philosophical, after trying to reason with Mina, he conveys to us that he knew this would come as their relationship went nowhere.Charles Berling, is seen as Matthias, an engineer who is in charge of the construction of the bridge. He is a married man, who will probably will end the affair and go back to his wife, as most of these romances have a certain time span. Stanislas Crevillen, plays young Tommy. This boy shows a cruel side toward his father, although nothing seems to be wrong in their relationship.This film has elicited some negative comments in this forum, but in spite of that reaction, the movie will be appreciated for the frankness in which these people tell one another where they stand and for not beating around the bush in denying or hiding the truth. Adultery, after all, is a fact of life that shows its ugly face in all types of society.

I really enjoyed this movie when I saw it recently on the Sundance Channel. I really dislike about 95% of the films provided by Hollywood and I wish we could have more films like this.I have always liked Depardieu films and this is just one more example of why I like him as an actor. It is just a character study of how several people try to get through life. In fact, it is probably how most of us get through life and you rarely see it portrayed in films from Hollywood.I know that most people that I know would not like a film like this, but I am sure thankful that I get to see them.

"The Bridge" is a slice-of-French-life flick which, like many French films, is fatalistic, character-driven, and an almost plotless film about life. The film tells of a middle class housewife and mother who has an affair. The adulterous relationship is treated cooly by the husband (Depardieu), the wife (Boquet), and her lover (Berling) in this film in which, beyond the principals, everything else is just so much window dressing. Well acted, not particularly artistic but technically okay, "The Bridge" will appeal most to aficionados of French cinema while other will miss the sex, nudity, melodrama, and other appurtenances of a typical Hollywood product.

Despite the wonderfully wrenching performance of the boy (Stanislas Crevillen) this Bridge lacks foundation to support the relationship that turns on a tear. Motive matters. And a thoughtless and irresponsible and unsympathetic role Bouquet is saddled with, besides a 16th arrondissement visage in a maid's role, does not allow the viewer to ultimately care, though the sympathies do lie with the boy and the dad. This tranche de la vie is a bit stale, n'est-ce pas?