You won't be disappointed!

Sadly Over-hyped

Absolutely Fantastic

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Once in every life , someone comes along this kind of certainly comes , but once in a lifetime

An artfully made film about illicit,adulterous passion between middle-aged , bored , restless , small-town housewife , Mrs. Francesca Johnson / Meryl Streep & a National Geographic photographer, Robert Kincaid / Clint Eastwood ; a bachelor on assignment in Iowa for a week , to photograph its covered bridges in 1965.Although this film is portrayed as a great 'love' story- it is actually Francesca who takes the initiative to prey on an unsuspecting Robert and seduce him, with multiple offers to show him directions to a bridge he's searching for , later peeking at him through gaps in the wooden bridge , spying on him when he took off his shirt to wash up, invitations for lemonade at noon / dinner in the evening, when she's alone at home, going upstairs & tarting herself up with earrings for Kincaid's benefit.Each time the current activity runs out- Francesca ingeniously finds a new way to prolong her discourse with Kincaid by further plying him with fresh invitations.Robert appears genuine , friendly & genial and the two forge an instantaneous friendship. After a daytime encounter in a diner with Ms. Redfield , the town's 'bad woman', where Robert Kincaid sees how another adulterous woman is treated as an outcast by the townspeople , Kincaid contemplates putting the brakes on his new friendship with Mrs. Johnson. Being an out-of-towner, Kincaid had nothing to lose , yet he was not an opportunist & was empathetic enough to ernestly caution Francesca against going out on a friendly day trip with him while he worked , so that she wouldn't get 'compromised' around town .But Francesca was too unethical & determined in her pusuit of passion , excitement & her plans to see Kincaid , no matter what ( even loosely purchasing a new dress to go out with him ) Neither did having a 17 yr old son, a daughter & being married for two decades to a good & honest man, Richard Johnson & backstabbing him ( while he was away for 4 days at the Illinois state fair with their children ) weigh too heavily on Francesca - who was so determined to live vicariously through Robert Kincaid, questioning him closely about his travels / exotic destinations / romantic trysts which seemed exciting to her in contrast to her dull Iowa farm life.By the second evening Francesca manages to attain her goal & sleep with Kincaid experiencing passion in her dull life. They drive out of town on further day trips & jazz joints etc .When Francesca's 4 days of being alone are almost up ( before her family returned ) she , without provocation , lashes out at Robert ( who was consistently genial & gentlemanly - for a man who's sleeping with another's wife ) angry that she had reduced herself to just one of Kincaids romantic trysts from around the globe . Her anger didn't stem from any post-coital , adulterous regret or guilt about back-stabbing her poor husband ; but from her insecurity about being a plain , uninteresting farm wife who lived in the middle of nowhere and her longing to be special to someone exotic like Robert Kincaid.After her unkind ( & uncalled for ) attack, Robert Kincaid , always the gentleman , doesn't respond in kind , but shockingly rises to the occassion , assures her that his association with her is special to him and puts his money where his mouth is by asking her to leave with him , risking his own heart , instead of taking a more convenient ' wham,bam, thank you Ma'am ' exit . Mollified, Francesca packs up to elope with Robert, feeling validated & special. On their final dinner in the house, after getting whatever she wanted from Robert , Francesca hypocritically decides that now, her husband , Richard doesn't deserve to be treated so badly by her & neither do her children . Robert Kincaid who could've left unequivocally after a passionate 4 days tryst enjoyed by both sides, now has risked his heart after the admission of love & offer to elope forced out of him by Francesca's abusive tongue-lashing from before.He leaves the house broken-hearted, telling her that she may change her mind after her family arrives & that he will still be in town for a few more days - where she may see him & decide to leave with him after all. In the end we see Francesca out shopping with Richard who is clueless about his two-faced wife , when she runs into Robert who's very painfully & heartbreakingly , waiting in the rain without compromising her publicly , waiting to see if she'll leave with him. In the end , Francesca was neither true to Richard nor to Robert - she just used both men.She cheated on her husband and broke Kincaid's heart. Richard Johnson dies years later , never finding out the truth about how his wife abused his faith & Robert Kincaid dies being true to his illicit & misplaced 'love' thus never giving himself the chance to find real,clean love in a legitimate relationship with an honourable lady . Apparently this wasn't enough for Francesca who , after her death leaves journals for her middle aged children to catch up with their mother's thrilling indiscretion . Francesca claims she's being honest with them but like an exhibitionist , includes unnecessary erotic details .The only good outcome from the illicit passion was that after reading the journals & reflecting on the contents, Francesca's two children take a second look at their own lives & troubled marriages , with the son deciding to repair his relationship with his long suffering wife & the daughter deciding not to be a doormat to a philandering, weak husband.

Some films come and go before you could say "yawn". Some will stay with you for a long time. This one is one of them,it is something that I would proudly remember the title, however long it is.Two main actors are equally good. if you like this film, you would probably like " In the mood for love" with Maggi Cheung. Back to "Bridges..", the story is simple and yet it draws you in. It is good that now and then , a story like this comes along as fresh breath of air. Love can happen to anyone, but Hollywood seems to think teen love is worth telling.I can't think of any movie that is similar to this one.I am surprised that this one is not in top 100 films you must see before you die.

After seeing bits and pieces of this film on too many occasions, I finally sat down to really watch it. For what seems like forever, I have known that this is the quintessential "chick flick" that makes women swoon and cry. Huh?I found it formulaic and foolish. Hmmm, 4 days? Four days, you decide that a guy ambling through town is the love of your life? Hollywood is pathetic. I kept trying to care about these people and about the cliché'd housewife who agonizes over whether to leave her husband and her children and run off with a guy she just met. We love and romanticize what we don't have and take for granted what we do. --Especially since we only see their best side in the beginning, while trying to compare that with the reality in which we live. Hollywood loves and elevates the superficial and denigrates truth and reality. It's possible that the only way lovers like these could remain in love with such a fantasy is precisely because they never dealt with real life together. It might not have been so romantic. Maybe they would even have discovered that they weren't as compatible as they thought. Still, the mysterious man of the world "that got away" is what makes women cry. I'll tell you what I find romantic. The couple who has been through hell and back together and still get butterflies at the sight of one another.On top of all of that.......Streep is overrated in this. If that was an Italian accent, I wonder what Czechoslovakian sounds like.