Sur la route de Madison

When I was a senior in college, Robert James Waller taught what was to be his last business course at UNI. I was fortunate enough to have been a part of that class. He was leaving teaching for a "special project". Little did I know, it turned out to be the book that later turned into a movie.

The similarities between Robert Kincaid and Mr. Waller are many. Mr. Waller was a photographer and a musician with a way about him that I have yet to see again in my 51 years, so similar to the character in the movie. He was those things in addition to being a business consultant and college professor with notable accomplishments. Some of my fondest memories from class were not only his lessons, but also being able to enjoy classes where he shared his photography and music.

When I graduated from college, I was given a questionnaire to fill out. One of the questions was along the lines of something that I would never change about my college experience. My response was how fortunate I was to attend Mr. Waller's class and how I had hoped he would not leave. Alas, he went on to further success.

I watched the movie last night with my wife, who had not seen it yet. I was flooded with many wonderful memories of Mr. Waller along with a good friend of mine that played in the band in the road house scene. While the son and daughter characters in the movie are a tad hokey, I think the movie still stands up.

R. I. P. Mr. Waller, you are missed by many.

I admire the likes of Woody Allen, Chaplin and Clint Eastwood (just to name a few), who possess(ed) the chops to write, direct AND act. They're complete artists, and I wish I could be like that (I'll be already too happy if I can ever achieve my life passion of writing and directing, though, since my acting would be less convincing than Owen Wilson playing Hamlet).

Even though Eastwood didn't write this (Richard LaGravenese did it beautifully, based on a novel by Robert James Waller), he does a good job in front of the camera while also directing this human encounter between a photographer (played by himself) and an Italian housewife (Meryl Streep, magnificent) in 1960s Iowa. Their four days together would change their lives forever.

The premise doesn't sound too original, but Eastwood wonderfully captures all the raw emotions between these people, who seem throughly genuine, alive, and passionate. Lennie Niehaus' beautiful music score helps enhance the romantic atmosphere, and the slow pace is never a bore since it's necessary to make you live those brief but special moments with them. From westerns to female boxers to jazz musicians to war dramas, Clint Eastwood knows how to tell a good story, and "The Bridges of Madison County" ranks among his best. 10/10.

On the page "The Bridges of Madison County" often read like a reject from Mills and Boon and yet it was tremendously popular. People who normally wouldn't read this sort of thing were not only reading it but quoting it. You could say that for some people it held the kind of camp appeal that bad books sometimes do for the so-called intelligentsia. Personally, I am inclined to think that its tale of middle-aged romance struck a cord. It may not have been well-written but many people recognized in its two central characters a reflection of themselves. It spoke of a great passion and a great loss; a "Brief Encounter" for the nineties. Still, it never quite seemed like a vehicle for Clint Eastwood; (once upon a time you might have envisaged Arthur Hiller doing it), yet here it is, larger than life on the big screen and utterly lovely, utterly heart-breaking.

Perhaps Eastwood chose to film it as a vehicle for himself. He wears the mantle of the ageing Lothario perfectly at an age when most romantic leads are played by much younger men, (or are simply non-existent), yet who blanched when Gary Cooper or Cary Grant were wooing Audrey Hepburn well into their old age. Admittedly Eastwood isn't entirely comfortable in this sort of role. He's not a versatile actor. His best performances have been as tortured losers or just old-fashioned tough guys but under his own direction he blossoms here. Of course, the 'romantic' in Eastwood has never been hard to find. You need look only to the scores he has composed. (He has written the main love theme here and his use of classic jazz standards by the likes of Dinah Washington and Johnny Hartman adds considerably to the film's beating heart).

What is remarkable is that essentially Eastwood's film is really something of a chamber piece for two players. A few other characters flit into the frame but for most of the time there is no one on screen but Eastwood and co-star Meryl Streep and this is one of Streep's great performances. As Francesca, the woman who finds in Eastwood's photographer Robert the one great passion in her life albeit briefly and at a time when the likelihood of such a thing happening was remote indeed, Streep is extraordinary. Sometimes Streep can overwhelm a project; her versatility doesn't always work in favour of lesser material. But here she seems to have tapped quite effortlessly, not just into the consciousness of her character, but into her very soul as well. And if that sounds cheesy, let me assure you it isn't. Cheesiness isn't in Streep's vocabulary, even if it is in mine! Perhaps Eastwood was able to discern in Robert James Waller's novel the seeds of a great love story or perhaps he just felt he could bring his artistry to bear on some unlikely source material. Whatever, it's paid off. On screen "The Bridges of Madison County" is a great love story; there won't be a dry eye in the house.

A classic romantic movie. It has a "parting scene" between the couple that is so beautiful that it deserves a place in movie history. I will never forget the sight of Clint standing in the rain.

Meryl Streep is absolutely astonishing. I forgot it was her ten seconds into the film. That opening breakfast scene where all of her story is written in her magnificent face. As an Italian I know there is no acting involved here. She IS Italian. She reminded me of Anna Magnani in "Bellissima" there is not a single false note. Clint Eastwood, clearly, dedicates the film to her and the results are pure magic. The film is based on an unreadable book- at least I couldn't get through it, in spite of the brevity of the volume - the film however, is bound to become a classic thanks to the powerful chemistry of the stars. If you love film,like I do, I recommend you to see it once and let yourself be taken away by the truths in Meryl's eyes then go again and take note. Look at every one of her moments, from how she closes the refrigerator door to her laughter. Look at her reaction when she discovers that Clint stopped at Bari, her home town, just because he thought the place was pretty. Look at her hands, her walk and then go back to her eyes. It's a treat of the first order. Clint, in front as well as behind the camera,does a miraculous job. I passionately recommend it, no matter how young you are.