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Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
The creative team behind films like Howard's End and The Remains of the Day are slightly less successful with an Americanization of the stories they like to tell with 1990's Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, a crisp but somewhat talky look at a family that starts to drift apart that is still worth watching because it is the final feature film pairing of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
It is shortly before the outbreak of WWII as we are introduced to Walter and India Bridge, an upper class couple who are the parents of a son and two daughters. Patriarch Walter runs the family with a firm but loving hand, but is in denial about the world's changing mores and how his children may be dragged down into sin and degradation. He is also completely unaware of India's discontentment as a woman who has been trained to be what her husband wants her to be and nothing else.
Three time Oscar winner Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay is actually based on a pair of novels called "Mr. Bridge" and "Mrs. Bridge" that is a slightly pretentious look at a wealthy family enjoying the perks of Walter's lifetime of toil at the local bank but secretly screaming on the inside, especially India, who has spent her entire life putting her own wants and desires on the back burner in favor of everybody else. We see a woman who has been completely devoted to her family, oblivious about her own unhappiness that even she seems a little surprised when she asks Walter if she can begin therapy.
Director James Ivory allows the story to unfold slowly, cleverly introducing us to the Bridge family in authentic looking home movies and eventually moving to their elegant estate where an outer air of civility and pleasantness is covered by the challenge of a changing society that is brewing underneath and the Bridge children are dying to be a part of.
The story gets a little long-winded, but the extraordinary performances by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward keep this film imminently watchable. Watch Newman in the scene in the restaurant where a tornado is about to strike or watch Woodward when India is at the eagle scout ceremony or when she asks Walter if she should begin therapy...Woodward beautifully conveys India's heartbreak without ever letting her family know, but showing us. Woodward's rich performance earned her a fourth Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. Also have to give a shout out to Blythe Danner's flashy performance as India's BFF Grace. It's a little slow in spots, but the Newmans definitely make it worth your time.
The creative team behind films like Howard's End and The Remains of the Day are slightly less successful with an Americanization of the stories they like to tell with 1990's Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, a crisp but somewhat talky look at a family that starts to drift apart that is still worth watching because it is the final feature film pairing of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
It is shortly before the outbreak of WWII as we are introduced to Walter and India Bridge, an upper class couple who are the parents of a son and two daughters. Patriarch Walter runs the family with a firm but loving hand, but is in denial about the world's changing mores and how his children may be dragged down into sin and degradation. He is also completely unaware of India's discontentment as a woman who has been trained to be what her husband wants her to be and nothing else.
Three time Oscar winner Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay is actually based on a pair of novels called "Mr. Bridge" and "Mrs. Bridge" that is a slightly pretentious look at a wealthy family enjoying the perks of Walter's lifetime of toil at the local bank but secretly screaming on the inside, especially India, who has spent her entire life putting her own wants and desires on the back burner in favor of everybody else. We see a woman who has been completely devoted to her family, oblivious about her own unhappiness that even she seems a little surprised when she asks Walter if she can begin therapy.
Director James Ivory allows the story to unfold slowly, cleverly introducing us to the Bridge family in authentic looking home movies and eventually moving to their elegant estate where an outer air of civility and pleasantness is covered by the challenge of a changing society that is brewing underneath and the Bridge children are dying to be a part of.
The story gets a little long-winded, but the extraordinary performances by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward keep this film imminently watchable. Watch Newman in the scene in the restaurant where a tornado is about to strike or watch Woodward when India is at the eagle scout ceremony or when she asks Walter if she should begin therapy...Woodward beautifully conveys India's heartbreak without ever letting her family know, but showing us. Woodward's rich performance earned her a fourth Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. Also have to give a shout out to Blythe Danner's flashy performance as India's BFF Grace. It's a little slow in spots, but the Newmans definitely make it worth your time.