The Bridges of Madison County

1995 "The path of Francesca Johnson's future seems destined due to an unexpected fork in the road..."
7.6| 2h15m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 02 June 1995 Released
Producted By: Amblin Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

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

Genre

Drama, Romance

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The Bridges of Madison County (1995) is now streaming with subscription on Paramount+

Director

Clint Eastwood

Production Companies

Amblin Entertainment

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The Bridges of Madison County Audience Reviews

Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away
Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
David del Real Note: Most of my reviews contain some spoilers, but I always try that none of them can actually "spoil" any important surprise during the story, so you can read without worrying.First of all I need to clarify mi title a little, when I say "that builds up slow" I don't mean like saying "even when it begins boring" or anything alike. The whole movie is completely enjoyable. What I mean by this, is that the creators took the time to introduce the characters to us without hurry, which helps us to become more involved with them later.IMDb suggests to its reviewers to compare titles with similar ones. In this aspect I want to say that I think (as many persons do) that this is one of the best romantic dramas of all time. I want to say too that it is both my favorite Meryl Streep and my favorite Clint Eastwood movie so far. IMDb also suggest reviewers to recommend similar titles to their readers; in that sense my second favorite Meryl Streep movie is "Kramer vs Kramer" and my second favorite Clint Eastwood movie is "Gran Torino" and I am not sure if the third one is "Million Dollar Baby" or "The Unforgiven". Sorry, I still have no idea about which is my third favorite Meryl Streep movie, too many movies too different from each other to choose from.OK, about THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. Maybe its beauty comes from making an extraordinary love story happen to "almost" ordinary people. He is a photographer for National Geographic and she is and Italian immigrant born in Bari that lives in the county of Madison, in Iowa, USA. She is home alone while her family is away and he happens to arrive to her town to take pictures of the great bridges and landscapes. The story is actually told by the sons of Francesca (the Meryl Streep's character) when they find a letter let for them by her telling them their story. Its a narrative arc that makes you wonder how much people maybe YOU have met in life without really knowing them and their motivations for living. At the moment of making this review, The bridges of Madison County is not included in the IMDb top 100 greatest movies of all time but I really believe it deserves a place there.Thanks for reading.IMDb Review by David del Real. Ciudad de México, México. September 2017.
MartinHafer The film begins shortly after Francesca's death and her children are confronted with a big surprise...their mother was not faithful to their father and, oddly, wrote it all down and left evidence of the affair for the children to find (huh??)! What follows is a jump back to the 1960s, when an Iowa farm wife (Meryl Streep) meets and falls in love with a roving photographer for "National Geographic", Robert (Clint Eastwood). There you see how the pair meet and their very, very brief affair that lasted only a few short days.As for Francesca's grown children, at first they are horrified but over time they seem to think it was cool that their mother had this hidden life. The above quote is spoken by the daughter in "The Bridges of Madison County". It's referring to her mother's affair with a relative stranger. Perhaps I am overly moralistic and judgmental, but to me this DOES make her mother a bad person...though it would not seem to be so by Hollywood standards. And, to me, this is the fundamental problem with the film. While it's artfully acted, gorgeously made and directed...ultimately it's a film that romanticizes adultery. If the lady's husband had been physically abusive or evil, perhaps you could understand her actions...but his biggest crime is he was dull...and the wife never seemed to tell him she wasn't satisfied. You'd think she'd owe it to the guy or perhaps ask for a divorce. To me, that makes this a film that is tough to enjoy...as I felt bad for the husband...as I would if my wife went off and had an affair with someone else. And, I would sure hope my wife would feel the same way about this film and its message about a 'nice' affair.
Juliette Betram One of the best movies I have ever seen... Bridges of Madison County is not only for those who are having a hard time in their lives or are in a critical situation of unhappiness, it is the perfect example of someone who falls in love but is hit by the "reality" which we all are used to live in. It made me weep (Although I'm not a crying person honestly), laugh, sigh and wonder why people prefer not to take risks and stay instead right into their comfort zone. If you love Meryl Streep or Clint Eastwood you won't be disappointed and by now I can only tell you that you will for sure enjoy this movie, as I did for the third time. Just stop reading and watch it now, you won't regret it...
Anssi Vartiainen Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep) is a country woman left alone in her home as her husband and two children drive away to enter her daughter's bull into a prize contest. She decides to relax, perhaps read a book, take things easy while her family is not there to keep her busy round the clock. But, things change when a photographer drives into town. One Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood).As much as I don't like this movie, I must at least admire what Eastwood has managed to achieve with it as its director, given the source material, which is basically just housewife literature, in the most derogatory meaning of the term. But with Eastwood at its helm, it transforms into something almost bearable. It is unhurried, yet never slow. The characters feel like actual three-dimensional people, and not just props meant to fuel our fantasies. The sets are nice, the dialogues feel natural and if only the story had even the slightest bit of substance, this could have been something. Plus both Eastwood and Streep are phenomenal actors.Alas, the story is garbage. I can see Eastwood trying to tell something about the loneliness of house wives, or the loneliness of a traveler. You can see his attempt to build passion where in the book there's only lust. But, the fact remains, that this is simply a movie about an affair. The movie tries to hang bells and other assorted decorations to hide the fact, but it fails. And it's dull to boot. You can guess exactly how the story will unfold from the very first scene, and even the pretentious framing story isn't enough to arouse our interest.The Bridges of Madison County has its upsides. And, honestly speaking, I will be the first one to admit that I'm about as far from this film's target audience as is possible. So my opinion should not count for that much. And yet I'll say that this is one boring film, with horrible, horrible morals to teach and I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone.