The Girl on the Bridge (Fille sur le Pont, La) (1999) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Drama |
Theatrical Trailer Trailer-The Closet; Monsoon Wedding; Rain; Satin Rouge; Swing |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1999 | ||
Running Time | 87:42 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Patrice Leconte |
Studio
Distributor |
Christian Fechner Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Vanessa Paradis Daniel Autiel |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | $28.95 | Music |
Rafael Hernandez Gordon Jenkins Angelo Badalamenti |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
A naive, promiscuous and beautiful young girl, Adele (Vanessa Paradis), who has had nothing but bad luck in life and love decides that the best course of action is to jump off a bridge and end her life. However, just as she is preparing to go over she has a chance meeting with Gabor (Daniel Autiel), a knife thrower looking for his next target. His pitch: If you’re going to kill yourself anyway, why not take the chance to die in a more interesting way? Adele accepts his offer, and suddenly both their luck changes.
The Girl On The Bridge (La Fille sur le Pont) is a very off-beat romantic comedy that defies the Hollywood archetype by drawing two extreme characters together into a sensual storm that comes to climax with the luck of winning or surviving in the face of incredible odds. There are a lot of very interesting ideas here about the notions of luck, fate and what we make of our own lives, and how love collides into this mix. Is there a soulmate for us all? And how do we know when we have met them?
Furthermore, this film is not like the majority of French romances you see, obsessed with suffering and the banality of existence. That persistent air of detachment that so many French films seem to exhibit is not present here, and the film benefits greatly from this daring in-your-face exploration of love, life and chance. The flirtatiousness and fun between these two characters sizzles to climax in the knife-throwing scenes – like a sado-masochistic ritual, Adele places her life in Gabor’s hands and is aroused to pleasure by the danger that he may hurt her or even kill her. This creates a bond that is so strong between the two that they can even hear each other’s thoughts when apart.
Filmed in glorious black & white to give a sense of noir vintage, and made under the skilled directorship of Patrice Leconte, The Girl On The Bridge delivers brilliant performances by its lead couple and a sexual tension which simmers and boils, simmers and boils until its final moments. Sets, costumes and locations are exquisite, with a tour from cold and desolate France through the heat of the Mediterranean and finally to Turkey.
If you are in any way interested in foreign and arthouse cinema or are looking for a sensual love story to watch with your partner, I strongly recommend this film. Like a ninety-minute session of foreplay, you will be worked up and wanting more.
Presented in 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced, this is the original aspect ratio of the film.
The quality of the picture is excellent, with only a few minor quibbling faults. Shadow detail is fantastic, which is very important given the choice to film in black & white. There is a little bit of grain, but nothing distracting.
The picture is crisp and sharp, with some scenes exhibiting fantastic detail on facial close ups. At times you could count every strand of Gabor’s stubble or the slight wrinkles in the corner of Adele’s eyes. There is only one odd scene where the picture softens up a little (52:53 – 53:36), but this is likely a fault with the source material.
MPEG artefacts are non-existent, but there were a few film-to-video artefacts, most notably some moiré on the anti-hypothermia heating bags at 14:51 and on the grille in the background at 29:11. There is also some very slight aliasing on the panning shot of San Remo at 24:38.
Film artefacts were also virtually non-existent with only the occasional dot of white dirt on the print.
The subtitles (available only in English) are yellow with black borders and are generally easy to read against the colourless background.
This is a single-sided, single-layered disc and consequently there is no dual layer pause.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
There is only the original French 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track present here, but it’s a very good one. Considering I am also not a fan of audio dubbing, I am glad that only the original track is available even if it means that most of us will have to read subtitles. To hear the characters in anything other than their own voice would, I believe, ruin this film.
Because much of the film is dialogue-driven, it is important that the tone and inflection can be heard as this translates emotion far better sometimes than what is being said. The fidelity here is excellent, and dialogue can be heard at all times, even though I can barely understand French. There were also no audio sync problems that I noticed.
There is quite an impressive soundfield here, with applause and rain and also just plain ambient noise creating a surround presence most of the time. The music – composed largely of traditional and popular tunes – is another a treat, with a great dynamic range, stretching into the deep bass.
The sub-woofer is used sometimes to intensify the sound of the knives striking wood and also to flesh out the music. Thankfully, it is not heavily relied upon as this is quite a subtle film and such heavy-handedness would simply ruin the experience.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
All menus are presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. They are silent.
Presented in 2.35:1, non-16x9 enhanced, 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.
Presented in 1.33:1, non-16x9 enhanced, 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.
Presented in 1.85:1, non-16x9 enhanced, 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.
Presented in 1.85:1, non-16x9 enhanced, 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.
Presented in 1.85:1, non-16x9 enhanced, 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.
Presented in 1.66:1, non-16x9 enhanced, 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
There appears to be no R1 release of this DVD. The R2 release appears identical to the R4 release. Given its cost effectiveness, the R4 is the best buy.
The Girl On The Bridge is a simmering, sensual piece of cinematic foreplay. Artistic and enjoyable.
The video is very good with only a couple of minor defects.
The sound is also above average, and a good example of when less is sometimes more (just like the film itself).
The extras were entirely promotional.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Panasonic DVD-RV31A-S, using S-Video output |
Display | Beko 28" (16x9). This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. |
Amplification | Marantz SR7000 |
Speakers | Energy - Front, Rear, Centre & Subwoofer |