Love Abides---After Watching The Bridges of Madison County

谭文

Love Abides

The Bridges of Madison County

A Brief Overview of the Plotof This Film

The Bridges ofMadison County is a 1995 filmwhich was adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name written byRobert James Waller. It tells the four days’ and then later an abiding lifetimeromance between Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) and Francesca (Meryl Streep). Michaeland Caroline, children of the heroine, were informed that their mother hadpassed away and so they came back to their childhood country home to handletheir mother’s funeral. At the same time the two siblings were both confrontedand afflicted with unfortunate married life. However, they were both relievedof their miseries and finally found a way out of their problems after readingtheir mother’s diaries chanced upon when sorting out their mother’s stuff.These diaries, which they took turns to read to each other, gradually revealedan astonishing yet heart-rending love story of their mother. It was then backin 1965 when her husband Richard was away with their kids to attend theIllinois State Fair. That day Francesca encountered and fell in love with RobertKincaid, a roving peregrine who had come to Madison County, Iowa to create aphotographic essay for National Geographic on the covered bridges in the area. Thefollowing four days they spent together was a turning point for both of them. Twolone souls found in each other, as Robert Kincaid said, “the kind of certain love which comes only once and never again in alifetime”. Torn between family duties and the beckoning life of beingtogether with her Robert, Francesca, after prolonged excruciating innerstruggle, made up her mind to stay rather than go with him. In the followingyears, both suffering from the torment of yearning for each other, the two hadbeen cherishing in each other’s heart the never-spoken love and joys they had sharedduring those four fleeting days. They were never able to see each other againuntil after their death. Their ashes, according to their will, were scattereddown the Roseman Covered Bridge which could be said to bethe witness to their love. They were finally together, and together forever.

What I Want to Say about ThisFilm

If I were to comment, I would say this filmis the most successful and impressive romance ever produced by the filmindustry.

In the film the ill-fated love story of thehero and the heroine conveys how those lone souls luckily in this grand cosmos chanceupon true love of which they have been long in search and pursuit but due tothe unavoidable trivia and all kinds of bonds and constraints in life they hadnever been able to actually chase it, let alone enjoy it. However, when thismovie was first put on screens, many controversies were aroused among its audience.Some of them labeled it as being off social morals and ethnics because fromtheir point of view the film has been apparently advocating extra-maritalaffair, or if not, at least has acquiesced in it. Others, with their allegedly justifiedreasons, downplayed it as just another cliché account of love story and being voidof novelty. There are many people like me, who highly and enthusiastically acclaimthis film by speaking favorably of it and recommending it to our friends andrelatives. It is not that we advocate extra-marital affair or that we acquiescein it if not advocating it but that from the sheer perspective of and for thesake of love itself we are astonished and drawn by the impressive display oflove and their oath of loyalty to each other after merely four days of acquaintance.In the following I am going to elaborate the three schools of views and testifyto the justification of my opinion of this film.

As to the first point of view, it is notwithout its reasonability. However, it has unfortunately overplayed itsimplication of extra-marital affair and overlooked the real essence and intrinsicmeaning the film is trying to communicate. Nowadays it is an age when marriageis becoming more and more vulnerable to an abundance of threats. Marriage is nolonger treated with seriousness and tackled with caution. The current generaltrend of this world seems to commercialize everything and deal with everythingarbitrarily. People also indulge themselves in a quick-paced way when they are working,living their life, and falling in love and marrying as well. And among thoseeverything bearing the brunt of threats is marriage. Marriage has never beenconfronted with more problems and risks than ever before. In this film it has,to a certain degree, opened a window into the marriage crisis of middle-aged peopleand their dissatisfaction with life in big cities. Many married people have ina way or other experienced extra-marital affair, whether it happens tothemselves or others. They were passionate and enthusiastic when they werecourting each other. But that kind of honey-moon like life won’t last long forthe majority of them and the passion just keeps dimming and dimming until thereleaves no trace of love between them. Marriage is thereafter sustained only by thosedue obligations forced upon them through the relationship. They are husband andwife in name only while in fact they act like strangers. People’s desires neverseem to be satisfied for they are constantly growing and without bounds. Whendissatisfied with their present marriage, they turn to extra-maritalrelationships to feed their ill-intentioned appetite for either sensuouspleasure or spiritual comfort. These extra-marital affairs constitute a majorcontribution to the breakage of marriage and the making of many orphans. Inthis film, the heroine, burdened with domestic trivia, has been living her liferoutinely yet peacefully. It may seem to many of us that she has already beencontent with her married life. However it later turns out that she has far frombeing content. She was just bonded and constrained, but she was obedient andnever, when her husband and kids were in need, refused to act out her duties. Ina word, she has performed all the due responsibilities without complaint. Evenafter she had an affair with the hero of this film and when she did plan to gowith him, she finally made the decision which had been the most considerate andappropriate for both Robert and her family. In another sense, their love affaircannot simply be degraded as extra-marital affair.

The second types of peopleregard it as lacking novelty and just a meaningless reproduction of what theythink of similar former stories. It is not at all the case. Maybe those peoplehaven’t actually comprehended the whole of the film. They arrived at thatconclusion perhaps by just analyzing excerpts of this film and therefore havenot been able to grasp the gist of the story. Or it is because they have solelylistened to the story through some hearsay and haven’t allowed themselves thechance to watch it in person. If all of the above are not true, I would believethat –please pardon me –they simply lack the basic knowledge of appreciating a film.Actually, from my point of view, it tells a quite authentic story and thesuccess of this film lies just in its genuineness. It can in no sense be putunder the category of another banal film. In this film, the psychological activitiesof the characters are vividly depicted. The contradictory feelings which we cansense from the words and actions of the characters are so true to real lifethat we simply cannot resist imagining that we ourselves are actually in thesame situation. Both the hero and the heroine are well characterized throughtheir either linguistic or non-linguistic expressions of feelings.  (To be continued in the following)

谭文

I have watched this film for more than four times. Here I feel a great urge to ask myself and you all as well a question: what kind of love is favored by you and what kind of marriage do you want at all? This film seems to have offered you and myself the answer. When we are in a relationship, we should give it a careful thought as to whether the two companies of this relationship are treating it seriously and whether we really love each other, that is, are we really preparing to shoulder all the duties and responsibilities attendant to this relationship and as it matures, the more and bigger obligations? If not, I’d caution those who are playing sort of love game to stop their irresponsible behaviors immediately, which, if not properly corrected and guided, would soon or later bring their masters irrecoverable and incurable miseries and hurts. If at all our relationship leads us into marriage, we should also tackle it seriously and ask ourselves how we are going to live our married life happily and make it last till our death. Love then is not just love. Love is more of responsibility. Extra-marital affair is never favored and accepted by both ourselves and those social morals and ethnics. If you take risk committing such an affair, you are ninety-nine out of a hundred going to taste the bitterness and trouble it causes. It should be noted that there is no absolute freedom in this free world whatever it mat attach to. It is, of course, true of love. If you really love somebody, you should devote the entire of you to your wife/husband and never take even the first step to get yourself into those contemptible conducts. This is not void of freedom. If your loyalty never fails, you will have a clear conscience and therefore you don’t have to be worried about what will result from your behaviors. Love doesn’t chain you up but disloyalty always does. So don’t ever try to make excuses for your dishonorable behaviors through this lame assertion that love cages you up. Though Francesca had not been able to be completely loyal to her husband, her final decision and consideration for her family has more or less made up for her behavior. True love is extremely difficult to come upon. If it at all comes, it comes only once and never again for a lifetime. So be patient and guard yourself against kinds of temptations, give the whole of you to the one with which love will abide for a lifetime. For true love always abides.