Mr & Mrs Bridge
The more I think about the movie, the more I like it.
Mr & Mrs Bridge, starring Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward as the title characters, follow the upper middle-class Bridge family (though as the title suggests, it focuses mainly on the couple) over about 10-20 years in their lives. The story is actually rather uneventful, it's not thrilling and I guess one could also say it's not all that original either. The story doesn't really begin or end at any specific or special point in their lives, I guess to show how this is the way they've been living their lives, and will continue to do so as an ordinary American family in the 30s & 40s.
In one of the opening scenes, a group of men are sitting at a table. One of them is a psychiatrist. He's quite flamboyant and lively, and is telling the others a dirty joke. Everyone laughs except for one man.
Psychiatrist: Walter, you'd rather cut your throat than laugh at a dirty joke.
Walter: I must confess, I have never been able to find anything amusing about smut.
That is Mr Walter Bridge.
He's a highly conservative and traditional man. He's also very stubborn and set in his own opinions, which he always believes to be right and superior to others'. Oddly, despite these traits which often makes a character rather unlikeable, Mr Bridge is actually quite human & likeable in his own way. As the film progresses, you'll realise that he actually does love his wife and his family very much -- it's that he finds it quite hard to express himself to them.
This character is actually quite different from most of the ones I've seen Paul Newman play. In his earlier days, the guy would usually be someone who's more rough, and inclined towards a rather unstable personality. Here, he plays Mr Bridge so excellently, from the way he speaks to the way he stands and the way he looks at others. I think his portrayal is one of the key things which makes Mr Bridge likeable & human.
On the other hand, Mrs India Bridge is a more naive and gentle person. She always listens to her husband and turns to him for advice, and obviously cares for her children very much (though they don't always reciprocate, and are probably embarrassed by her, in the way many children are of their parents at times :x) In an early scene, she reads her horoscope, which told her: "your emotional destiny is to express yourself through love & self-sacrifice". This line describes Mrs Bridge so well! She isn't the smartest woman, but she always does the best that she knows how to for others.
Joanne Woodward received a deserved Oscar nomination for her role in this movie, and I totally agree with a review which spoke of how she plays Mrs Bridge with the right amount of subtlety, and in a non-patronising manner as well.
A few scenes in the movie that stood out for me:
This is actually after she reads her horoscope to her husband, and wishes that he would show more appreciation for her. It's actually quite a comical scene in the way she breaks down in front of him, and how he pacifies her in his own way.
*
This next scene is both sad and touching at the same time. This is the day her son (played by Robert Sean Leonard) became an Eagle Scout. At the ceremony, all the boys are standing next to their mothers. The man on stage tells them to say thank you to their best friend who is sitting next to them today. As seen in the cap above, all the boys immediately turn down to speak to their mother except for Douglas.
She is upset and tries to hold back her tears.
Mr Bridge was also at the ceremony, and obviously saw what happened. Back home later that night, as she's taking off her jewellery, he just goes over, takes her hand, and kisses it :)
*
Another scene, this time they're at the bank as Mr Bridge tries to go through several documents & investments with her, "just in case". She suddenly asks him a question after reminiscing about a time before they were married.
India: Walter, would you tell me something? ... Do you love me?
Walter doesn't answer, and his face doesn't change either.
India: Well, do you?
Walter: If I didn't, I wouldn't be here.
India, Couldn't you just tell me, once in a while? Would that hurt you so very much?
Walter: India, I am not good at this sort of business.
India: You used to be.
Walter: Well, for better or for worse, I turned out to be an attorney and not a poet.**
**This is actually in reference to the past Mrs Bridge was speaking about earlier, when Mr Bridge used to carry around a copy of The Rubaiyat and read verses to her.
*
The relationship between Mrs Bridge and her son is now significantly different from during the scene I mentioned previously.
He was actually in bed sleeping, and she marches into the room to wake him up. She suddenly has an outburst and shouts at Douglas, "You are just like your father, exactly!". I think Douglas in the past would have probably not bothered too much about it, but he follows her back to her room where she has gone crying and tells her "Who else would I be like if not my father?" Hee <333
Touching moment here yay. I loved the way RSL said the line too.
Some random screencaps:
She's always smiling at others, and he always has a stern face on.
And one more of RSL! He looks so young here.
I realise I did not mention the daughters much, but their parts are harder to describe lol and it's actually more fleshed out than the part about Douglas (which I wished had a bit more explanation as to his teenage hostility towards his mother). It's interesting how the movie manages to convey the relationship each child with their father & mother separately.
Mr & Mrs Bridge, starring Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward as the title characters, follow the upper middle-class Bridge family (though as the title suggests, it focuses mainly on the couple) over about 10-20 years in their lives. The story is actually rather uneventful, it's not thrilling and I guess one could also say it's not all that original either. The story doesn't really begin or end at any specific or special point in their lives, I guess to show how this is the way they've been living their lives, and will continue to do so as an ordinary American family in the 30s & 40s.
In one of the opening scenes, a group of men are sitting at a table. One of them is a psychiatrist. He's quite flamboyant and lively, and is telling the others a dirty joke. Everyone laughs except for one man.
Psychiatrist: Walter, you'd rather cut your throat than laugh at a dirty joke.
Walter: I must confess, I have never been able to find anything amusing about smut.
That is Mr Walter Bridge.
He's a highly conservative and traditional man. He's also very stubborn and set in his own opinions, which he always believes to be right and superior to others'. Oddly, despite these traits which often makes a character rather unlikeable, Mr Bridge is actually quite human & likeable in his own way. As the film progresses, you'll realise that he actually does love his wife and his family very much -- it's that he finds it quite hard to express himself to them.
This character is actually quite different from most of the ones I've seen Paul Newman play. In his earlier days, the guy would usually be someone who's more rough, and inclined towards a rather unstable personality. Here, he plays Mr Bridge so excellently, from the way he speaks to the way he stands and the way he looks at others. I think his portrayal is one of the key things which makes Mr Bridge likeable & human.
On the other hand, Mrs India Bridge is a more naive and gentle person. She always listens to her husband and turns to him for advice, and obviously cares for her children very much (though they don't always reciprocate, and are probably embarrassed by her, in the way many children are of their parents at times :x) In an early scene, she reads her horoscope, which told her: "your emotional destiny is to express yourself through love & self-sacrifice". This line describes Mrs Bridge so well! She isn't the smartest woman, but she always does the best that she knows how to for others.
Joanne Woodward received a deserved Oscar nomination for her role in this movie, and I totally agree with a review which spoke of how she plays Mrs Bridge with the right amount of subtlety, and in a non-patronising manner as well.
A few scenes in the movie that stood out for me:
This is actually after she reads her horoscope to her husband, and wishes that he would show more appreciation for her. It's actually quite a comical scene in the way she breaks down in front of him, and how he pacifies her in his own way.
*
This next scene is both sad and touching at the same time. This is the day her son (played by Robert Sean Leonard) became an Eagle Scout. At the ceremony, all the boys are standing next to their mothers. The man on stage tells them to say thank you to their best friend who is sitting next to them today. As seen in the cap above, all the boys immediately turn down to speak to their mother except for Douglas.
She is upset and tries to hold back her tears.
Mr Bridge was also at the ceremony, and obviously saw what happened. Back home later that night, as she's taking off her jewellery, he just goes over, takes her hand, and kisses it :)
*
Another scene, this time they're at the bank as Mr Bridge tries to go through several documents & investments with her, "just in case". She suddenly asks him a question after reminiscing about a time before they were married.
India: Walter, would you tell me something? ... Do you love me?
Walter doesn't answer, and his face doesn't change either.
India: Well, do you?
Walter: If I didn't, I wouldn't be here.
India, Couldn't you just tell me, once in a while? Would that hurt you so very much?
Walter: India, I am not good at this sort of business.
India: You used to be.
Walter: Well, for better or for worse, I turned out to be an attorney and not a poet.**
**This is actually in reference to the past Mrs Bridge was speaking about earlier, when Mr Bridge used to carry around a copy of The Rubaiyat and read verses to her.
*
The relationship between Mrs Bridge and her son is now significantly different from during the scene I mentioned previously.
He was actually in bed sleeping, and she marches into the room to wake him up. She suddenly has an outburst and shouts at Douglas, "You are just like your father, exactly!". I think Douglas in the past would have probably not bothered too much about it, but he follows her back to her room where she has gone crying and tells her "Who else would I be like if not my father?" Hee <333
Touching moment here yay. I loved the way RSL said the line too.
Some random screencaps:
She's always smiling at others, and he always has a stern face on.
And one more of RSL! He looks so young here.
I realise I did not mention the daughters much, but their parts are harder to describe lol and it's actually more fleshed out than the part about Douglas (which I wished had a bit more explanation as to his teenage hostility towards his mother). It's interesting how the movie manages to convey the relationship each child with their father & mother separately.