The Girl on the Bridge
Directed by Patrice Leconte
Starring Daniel Auteuil, Vanessa Paradis
Waifish Adele (Paradis), with her slightly gapped teeth and cuddy breasts hiding under a wooly bear sweater explains how she got where she is. It’s not that she loved unwisely (she did) or not at all (she missed a few elderly monks in Bhutan), but to her men were like chocolates – she wanted to try every one in the box. When she realizes there are so many maple walnuts amongst the caramel crèmes, a long winter swim in the Seine seems like a good idea. Gabor (Auteuil) is hanging out on that same bridge, looking for a new partner for his fading knife-throwing act. He prefers suicidal women, on the theory if he misses, what’s the downside? With his Svengali eyes and astonishing nose, he soon has Adele under his thrall and excited to be in show business. A little paint and power, and she’s on stage discovering the erotic joy of ALMOST being penetrated. He’s that good.
Shot in trendy black and white at a series of tourist postcard Mediterranean locations, the pair wends their way to Turkey. While together, the pair is preternaturally lucky, and when they part, life falls apart. Gabor is an actor and con artist, but his con is doing what he says he will with no one believing him. Adele is sweet, lovely, and so lost that a few card tricks convince her she really is lucky. It’s a love story with an edge. I never viewed knife-throwing as an erotic act, but if I tried it, I’d sure want to be on top.
