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Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

Posted on December 11, 2022December 29, 2022 by Village Vidiot

“Mr. & Mrs. Bridge,” December 11, 2022 (1990), DVD.  Our trip through Newman/Woodward-land continues.  Woodward pushed for this production and Merchant/Ivory who produced/directed this period piece about a rigid, self-righteous upper-middle class lawyer, Kansas City lawyer, Walter Bridge (Paul Newman), his very housewifeish wife, India (Joanne Woodward), and their difficulties navigating the times they live in (the 1930s and 40s).  Based on a 1959 Evan Connell novel, it is period-perfect (a Merchant/Ivory tradition), shot in KC with no sound-sets.   The Bridges attempt to cope, each in their own way as their world changes, as friends turn to psychiatry, as war comes to the nation, as children marry outside their class.  The film both deftly satirizes their responses and recreates their times and the limits and strictures of their milieu.     Woodward is especially moving in this one as she gropes to find and create warmth, love, and humanity in this stultifying household.   Director James Ivory calls this his personal favorite and his most intimate film as it reflects the environment he grew up in.

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