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The Girl on the Bridge
It's night on a Paris bridge. A girl leans over Seine River with tears in her eyes and a violent yearning to drown her sorrows. Out of nowhere someone takes an interest in her. He is Gabor, a knife thrower who needs a human target for his show. The girl, Adele, has never been lucky and nowhere else to go. So she follows him. They travel along the northern bank of the Mediterranean to perform.
Release : | 1999 |
Rating : | 7.5 |
Studio : | France 2 Cinéma, Canal+, Les Films Christian Fechner, |
Crew : | Director of Photography, Director, |
Cast : | Vanessa Paradis Daniel Auteuil Demetre Georgalas Catherine Lascault Isabelle Petit-Jacques |
Genre : | Drama Comedy Romance |
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Reviews
Simply A Masterpiece
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
It is clear that Adèle (Vanessa Paradis) is a subject problematic and unlucky. A girl considered by men but most often alluded and abandoned. On the other hand there is the figure Gabor (Daniel Auteuil), a knife launcher: when Adèle is about to commit suicide from Paris on a bridge the two meet. The screenplay of this film in black and white seems to capture the magical realism of the 1950s where the protagonists are a kind story of solitary souls, eccentric, but basically two people desperate to search happiness. A choice of Patrice Lecont who supports cynical and tragic humor: the plot reveals a real issue of life or death where the luck of the protagonists is constantly challenged, he throws knives while she becomes the target of the target. To conclude, despite metaphorically I love Vanessa Paradis and the film I liked I recognize for the female protagonist an adolescent role that which plays with life and death.
This is a beautiful, poetic, absorbing and intensely romantic movie.Daniel Auteuil won a Cesar (the French Academy Award) for his performance here and he certainly deserved it. His portrait of a knife thrower is chilling and warm at the same time. It is amazing that Auteuil did not become a Hollywood star. He has been nominated for Cesar's 12 times and has won twice. Only Gerard Depardieu has been nominated more (15 times and 2 wins). While Depardieu has made more than a dozen Hollywood films, Auteuil has been in none.Bsides Auteuil's outstanding and soulful performance, Vanessa Paradis is astonishing. She is as sexy and openly seductive as Greta Garbo. It is easy to see why she has been Johnny Depps lover/companion for the past 20 years or so.The film is artistic. So do not expect a linear Hollywood plot or easily understood characters. Just let the film's ambiance sweep you away to another world.
A trustworthy value of contemporary French cinema (in 1996, the French Minister for Arts and the director of the national center of the cinematography hailed him as a French worthy ambassador), Patrice Leconte can brag himself to rank among a handful of French filmmakers whose popularity is continual in France and abroad, especially since "Ridicule" (1996) was virtually unanimously lauded. On this site, several of his films exceeded the 1000 even 2000 votes mark. This one "la Fille Sur Le Pont" is near to the 3000 votes mark and appears to be the most well-known of Leconte's flicks abroad. A word to his devotees and they seem to be numerous: I urge them to watch "Tandem" (1987). It is Leconte's towering achievement and his sleeper.To come back to "la Fille Sur Le Pont", this cracker basically revolves around a young girl, Adèle (Vanessa Paradis). She's only 20 years old and she got a raw deal. Apparently interviewed by an emcee on the telly, she assesses her rueful life and can't see her future. One evening, she's cracking up and is about to jump from a bridge into the river Seine. Fortunately, she's saved at the last minute by a knife-thrower, Gabor (Daniel Auteuil) who becomes fond of her. He hires her as the target for his show and will make her enjoy life again. From then onwards, luck smiles on them, the lead a freewheeling adventure and Gabor becomes increasingly enamored of his young protégée."La Fille Sur Le Pont" is the movie in Leconte's filmography which heralds a series of films in which a love story is one of the staple elements of these flicks. It is perhaps the artistic success of this film which incited him to continue in this vein with the subsequent pieces of work "la Veuve De Saint Pierre" (2000), "Félix et Lola" (2001) and at last "Rue Des Plaisirs" (2002). In reality, Leconte had already adventured in the domain of the love story well before "la Fille Sur Le Pont". Love stories were main threads in the nearly dreamlike "Le Mari De La Coiffeuse" (1990) and "Le Parfum d'Yvonne" (1994) and they gave brilliant results.When I read Leconte's intentions on this film, I had misgivings. The director wanted to make a work which was supposed to be a homage to the New Wave, hence the shooting of Gabor and Adèle's adventure in a black and white cinematography. Leconte had lauded François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard as "masters". Ahem!... There's no accounting for taste. But he kept his trademark and his movie remains accessible to everyone who likes being told a story. The liberties dear to the New Wave clique are subdued and tamed, a stabled content and form with perhaps an emphasis on the content, no amateurish side in the directing, except in the very first sequence and a scenario which encapsulates several directives including a classic but absorbing storytelling and an analysis of the two main protagonists' persona.Leconte pulls off with gusto to create a timeless atmosphere. The first sequence comes out of the blue and sets the scene for the unique aura in which the film bathes. It is realism and fairy tale in the same package. Everything in the scenery, the costumes, the cinematography and the directing seem to be dovetailed to produce this pristine poise. An impression reinforced by a discerningly chosen music. But also, "la Fille Sur Le Pont" is a success story and Leconte is very astute at this game. He refuses a good number of constricting codes of the genre or diverts them in a neat way. For example, the viewer will have to wait the tail end to see Gabor and Adèle exchanging their first kiss.The scenarist Serge Frydman did a first-class job with an abundance of witty cues. My favorite lines are: "Knives are dangerous" "you know, everything's dangerous nowadays..." or " the first time I had sex, it was uncomfortable" "yes the first time you have sexual relationships it is usually uncomfortable" "no no, it was in the toilets of a gas station. It was uncomfortable".Always on the plus side, Leconte was obviously interested with the persona of his two main characters and perhaps more Gabor than Adèle. In spite of his apparent self-confidence and his deadpan humor, he conceals a deep vulnerability and has his own weaknesses. Like Adèle, he's unsure about the future (check the sequence when he's on the rails and a train arrives in front of him). He's a "Lecontian" hero par excellence. He's apparently sure of himself but hides a deep fragility. He is also admirably portrayed by Daniel Auteuil who garnered a deservedly César in 2000. As for Vanessa Paradis who when she was 14 years old scored a big hit in France with "Joe Le Taxi", she unveils another face of herself with unsuspected skills of actress.With a "feel-good" sentiment which suffuses the whole movie, "la Fille Sur Le Pont" is the ideal flick to restore confidence to the ones who lost it. Gabor says that "luck is a matter of life and death" but when it affects someone at a loss, it can work wonders. A wondrous movie to rank among the magnum opus in Leconte's filmography.
This can be considered as another fairy tale but with lots of twists: No colors, or color busted scenes, it's all in black and white. The characters save each other. They are continually on the road, traveling from one city in Europe to another and from one bridge to another. Filmed entirely in black/white, the eye is not focused on the panoramas but on the characters themselves. Especially the knife-throwing scenes are quite craftily edited. The acting is quite well, and Vanessa Paradis is a surprise, she can actually act apart from singing. The soundtrack is very gripping. To sum up: Girl on the Bridge is a road movie about love and luck which starts on a bridge in Paris and ends on another bridge in Istanbul.