HE SAID
I have to say that for the first 15 minutes of this movie, I really didn't expect to like it very much. Sure, the lead actress, Venessa Paradis, is beautiful in an old-fashioned-movie-star meets anorexic-1980's-super-model kind of way. And, yes, Paradis's opening monologue to a panel of curiously clinical onlookers was witty and well delivered. But the opening sequence to this film also seemed to include everything I hate about foreign independents: Needlessly shot in black and white, with an undertone of European weirdness, and offset with just a touch of too-cool-for-school smarminess. And, yes, I gleaned all this in the first fifteen minutes.
But my sceptical first impressions were proven unfounded as soon as Daniel Auteuil stepped into the screen. He is absolutely brilliant in this film. More specifically, the character he plays, Gabor, is brilliant. Gabor is a showman traveling the clubs and caberets of Europe. His trade? Knife throwing. And Gabor faces a pretty steep challenge in the profession of knife throwers...a challenge that I had not contemplated until seeing this film...finding someone at which to throw his knives. So, what is his solution? Cruising bridges, looking for pretty young girls about to jump. Recruiting suicidals. Brilliant.
So Gabor and Adele (Paradis) meet in this way, and we follow them on their travels. Theirs is an unconventional romance in which Gabor hovers a thin line somewhere between father, mentor, and lover to Adele. Adele herself is schizophrenic (not really mentioned in the movie, but my own diagnosis) and addicted to sex...but not with Gabor. In fact, the only physical affection we see between the two is an embrace. The sexual tension stays just below the line, but is strong, and drives the tone of the film. Trust and belief in self are also major themes. One scene in particular sums up all of the underpinnings, as Gabor and Adele spontaneously perform their act in an abandoned house...not for an audience...but simply for the sheer pleasure letting go, and allowing full trust in each other. It plays as a very "sensual" scene.
Another thing I liked about this film was the blend of new and old European flavors. This is very much a modern film, but it is also a film that, for example, asks the audience to believe that there are still theaters in this world, where finely dressed men and women clap wildly for a knife thrower or a contortionist. Perhaps there are, but in many ways this film has the feel of 1920's European culture thrust into the modern world. The dynamic is interesting, and the film is much the better for doing it this way, rather than being a period piece.
He Said: A very dark film that is surprisingly uplifting. There are a lot of themes and ideas going on under the surface of Girl on a Bridge. It's one of those movies that I expected to hate, but ended up loving. Definitely check it out.
SHE SAID
Love, like the movies, requires a willing suspension of disbelief. And, at heart, The Girl on the Bridge is a romance - with knives.
Adele (Vanessa Paradis) has been quite the loser in the zero sum game of life. She meets Gabor (Daniel Auteuir), a knife-thrower, on said bridge, and he convinces her to become the target of his affections. (What did she have to lose but death itself? And it could wait, for once.) Even before Gabor, Adele has never been able to say no to any willing man, so she agrees.
Knife-throwing, like love, requires a willing suspension of disbelief. And Adele has a knack for it. She has a knack for belief (and for being a target) that Gabor seems to feed from. Blatantly obvious metaphors between sex and knife-throwing follow (over and over again) - with Adele even breaking hurriedly from the arms of a young Italian stud to run to a deserted hut in the woods so Gabor could throw more knives at her.
The first two-thirds of the movie is a charming exploration of love and luck and fate - beautifully shot in black and white. Vanessa Paradis, whom I've never quite seen the charm of in color, is absolutely radiant in black and white. She's a grayscale trapped in a CMYK world, it seems. But it all goes to hell when Adele runs off with a man on his honeymoon. (It goes to hell in the film's story and in the film itself.) They still talk telepathically but are like two halves of a dollar bill without each other, as Gabor says. At this point, the writing in the film just seems to fall flat and it never picks back up, right up to the predictable ending.
Regardless, it's still a must-see movie. It's a visual romp through the cabarets and casinos of Paris, Monaco, Athens and Istanbul and a philosophical romp through luck, love, fate and attraction.
She Said: The black-and-white cinematography is gorgeous. The writing is sharp. And though the ending falls a bit flat, the beginning is so great you can't help but forgive it by then.
THEY SAID
After reading each other's reviews, The Eskimo and Shawn always discuss the reviews (and the film, too, of course). Listen to the Girl on the Bridge audio commentary below (or download it here) - and find out which film Eskimo picked to review next.
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