SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Terrell-4 She: Suicidal, about to jump off a bridge. He: A carnival knife thrower. Would you like to be my target, he asks. Sounds like a match made in heaven. Patrice Leconte's La Fille sur le Ponte may be a bit of quirky romantic fluff, but its great fluff. It's a diverting entertainment without much purchase, thank goodness, for the admiration of deeper meanings with which some Anglo cinephiles deaden the experience of good French movies. It's the story of two people who probably could only exist in the movies. Adele (Vanessa Paradis) is 21, endlessly compliant and endlessly unlucky in love (and with just about everything else, too.) She's a charming gamin, especially if you're the guy trying to pick her up. "Boys attract me," she says, "like beautiful clothes. I always want to try them on." At last she figures out that, for her, while sex is a friendly thing, it never seems to last or to work into anything else. "Funny, isn't it, how people can seem madly in love when they're not. It must be easy to fake." So there she is one evening about to jump off a bridge. Gabor (Daniel Auteuil), an older man, tries to talk her out of jumping. He'd like her to be his target. With her figure and his skill, they'll be a hit...although, he points out, "past the age of 40 knife throwing becomes erratic." She decides to jump anyway. He rescues her and before long they are an act. Adele continues to offer her innocently explicit friendship to those she encounters. She discovers a gift for luck. Gabor? Well, Adele and Gabor develop a distinctly odd approach to intimacy...knife throwing. Giving and receiving seems to bring out all the heavy breathing and beads of perspiration one would expect from the other activity. Note: Do not try this at home just to find out for yourself. What starts as a clever, funny suicidal set up moves into a clever, amusing story about knife throwing as a metaphor for sex and roulette as a metaphor for...well, maybe a relationship. It's so off-kilter, and Adele and Gabor are so attractive and interesting, that their quirky relationship is almost a guilty pleasure to watch. Will Adele decide to move a little so she can find out if one of Gabor's thrown knives is better than a young man's.... Will Gabor ever decide to try something other than a knife to intrigue Adele with.... Will Leconte's amusing mixture of luck, cold steel, eroticism, clever dialogue and shrewd acting come to a happy ending? When things begin to edge a little too close to what passes as seriousness in the movies, about three-quarters of the way through, Leconte has the good sense to pull back. This, after all, is a quirky romantic comedy done with flourishes and knives. You should see the movie. It's well worth it. Daniel Auteuil, one of the screen's great actors, manages to make of Gabor a man with an interestingly unspoken life for us to think about. When a movie depends on quick, clever dialogue, it needs to be delivered matter-of-factly, with no delays for glances, sighs or eye work. Auteuil's matter-of-factness is as deliberately amusing as his lines. Paradis, on the other hand, must make this young woman who lies down so willingly someone we like. Not only does Paradis give us pleasure in sex, when she's around she makes us feel almost young, innocent and erotic ourselves. And how nice it is to see a beautiful star actress without perfect teeth. Some critics have noted the several affectionate references to well known French films Leconte places in The Girl on the Bridge. I wouldn't know. I was too busy enjoying the movie. However, for those who might be intrigued enough to watch some of Leconte's other movies, he'll give you a variety of emotions to deal with. My favorites include Monsieur Hire, full of uneasiness and uncomfortable feelings; The Widow of Saint-Pierre, which comes close to tragedy; Ridicule, as malicious and amusing as you could wish; and my favorite to date, Man on the Train, a wonderful, thoughtful movie of sadness, regret and fulfillment. The Girl on the Bridge is beautifully photographed in black and white.

abidur rahman Like many other french movies, this movie is about the beauty of film making, it's about the art that does not necessarily depend on a story. There is a great amount of fantasy in this movie, like most good things in life. One thing that I really liked about the movie was the fact that you can take almost any frame and it could be part of a photography exhibition. Some people may complain about the story, which may be bland by itself; others may complain about the fairytale-type romance in the movie, which may seem too sentimental. But it is the excess of emotions that gives it the flavor of a fairytale. I'd never watch a movie to learn something, because good movies like good poetry is beauty itself, and we don't analyze that.

stephenpaultaylor My ex-girlfriend suggested this movie. She actually gave me a copy. I had thought, previously, since she dug (or seemed to dig) Henry Fool (she later said that she must've been influenced by me, after having attempted to watch Surviving Desire and turning it off because it was too "talky") that perhaps the movie would at least be remotely intriguing. It wasn't.It was a definite case of style over substance. Clearly influenced by MTV (or in Canada's case, Much Music), it was chock full of interesting camerawork, beautiful cinematography, but the sentiments were bland and the story annoying and the characters unappealing. The story is about two incredibly needy, albeit unusual people (well, one is a knife thrower and the other is suicidal) who are tied at the hip and experience this "serendipity" and esp regarding each other. Several scenes show them walking aroung "talking" to each other (each one is in another part of the world). The movie is meant to show this tragic, romantic love affair full of magic and wonder and telepathy, but in the end, it's just a load of hogwash. The film suffers from overwrought sentimentality and a grating, unbelievable storyline that is all about the forces of fate etc.I was just really put off by the whole fairy tale, Cinderella aspect to the story, which seems to broadcast that people can't survive alone, and there is one person out there who is your soul mate. I realize that my own personal biases may influence this opinion, but so be it. I'm not a big fan of fate/ destiny/ the idea that our lives are pre-written. This film is a sickening lecture on the presence of serendipidy and fate and, in the end, I wanted to watch something real and gritty (Trainspotting or something). I mean, I don't mind flights of fancy etc., but this film was trollop. If you're a hopeless romantic who believes in needy, clingy relationships full of jealousy and mistrust, then you may enjoy this flick. If you have more of a philisophical bent and you believe in choice and free will and aren't usually pursuaded by layers of glossy style to conceal the fact that the film is a drab fairy tale, don't see this film. Go see Swimming Pool or 400 Blows if you want excellent french cinema. Avoid this at all costs.I give it 1 out of 10.

Didier (Didier-Becu) The day Vanessa Paradis conquered the world with her childlike 80's hit "Joe Le Taxi" nobody could have thought that a decade later she would be one of the leading French icons, and certainly not a brilliant actress. Cos that's really the least you can say about Vanessa's performance who look like some circusgirl from the fourties, you know the kind of circuspeople like they are filmed in Lynch's "The elephant man". Vanessa plays the role of a young girl Adele who stands at a bridge ready to jump into the river, but just like in every fairy tale she is saved by Gabor (Danny Auteuil) who likes her to be his assisstent for his knife throwingact. She has nothing to loose, too weak to say no (she goes to bed with every guy who is asking for it) and soon she is the muse of Gabor. Even if the two never have any sex with each other, their knifethrowing act is an orgasm itself. And the two might lead a total different life (Auteuil is like a psychotic De Niro) they are made for each other... Is it a love story? Perhaps, but it's just more...at times it's even art (certainly due to the magnificent black and white cinematography) but most of all it's just an ordinary tale from two people who just live their life. "La fille sur le pont" is a genius movie from one of the most original directors France have, and quite unbelievable he started his career with the soulless comedy "Les Bronzés".