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The Girl on the Bridge

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

In his magical, erotic eighteenth feature, French director Patrice Leconte (RIDICULE, MONSIEUR HIRE) captivates viewers from the first elegant black and white frame. In the prologue, fragile beauty Adele (Vanessa Paradis) recounts her wayward, sadly promiscuous past in a comically matter-of-fact manner. Despite the lighthearted telling, Adele sees her life (all twenty-two years of it) as a tragic run of bad luck, leading her to a bridge on the Seine. She is saved from suicide by the arrival of Gabor (Daniel Auteuil) who jumps in after her. After the rescue, Gabor whisks Adele away to be the new assistant for his knife-throwing act. She blooms under his tutelage, and Gabor reaches new heights of his craft conceding that before Adele, he too, was lost. They happily traverse the Mediterranean, performing for thrilled crowds, and find they share a mystical, telepathic bond that comes in handy in casinos. As their feelings deepen, the knife-act becomes an erotic substitute, fraught with sexual tension (particularly in the beautiful scene beneath a railway bridge set to Marianne Faithful). Will the two realize in time that like the torn half of a dollar bill that Gabor gives Adele, each is useless apart?
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- Rating - For some sexuality.
Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): LF00290
Credits

Nicola Donata, Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Lascault, Vanessa Paradis, Bernice Cortez, Demetre Georgalas, Mireille Mosse
Critic Reviews

"...[A] baroque and vertiginous workout for the emotions..."
Variety
"...Paradis is a most striking subject....Visually enticing..." -- 3.5 out of 4 stars
USA Today
"...Shot in sumptuous black and white, replete with dizzy, swooping shots of Paris, Monaco, Athens and Istanbul, GIRL ON THE BRIDGE is like a pocket anthology of your favorite foreign movies..."
New York Times
"...A hypnotic French film shot in striking black and white..."
Rolling Stone
"...Locale is crucial here, and Monte Carlo, Athens and Istanbul are a wonderful trio of cities for glamorous romance, intrigue and danger -- and they could not seem more richly atmospheric with Dreujou's lush camerawork..."
Los Angeles Times
"...What's best about this movie is its playfulness..."
Chicago Sun-Times