Madison County

Quite spontaneously put 'the Bridges of Madison County' on last night, a DVD that's been knocking around the house for some time, which hadn't really interested me, probably because I read the book and felt I knew the tale intimately.

Evidently there were no great revelations in the story for me, but it melted my cold heart nonetheless and I shed a good few tears. It really got me to thinking about this concept of whether an intense love is best left in it's brief, intense state because it may weaken over time, or whether it's worth taking the risk to see if it is worth putting to the test of time. I was most recently probing this thought while watching the enchanting Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Of course, neither film gives us the chance to see what would happen if the great lovers gave it a shot in the long-term, so the answer remains a mystery (obviously this unanswered conclusion is more cinematically friendly too). I think mnay people have someone in their lives who they shared something very intense with, but who, for whatever reason, they didn't establish a relationship with. I certainly know I have - someone for whom a candle still flickers - but I've run over in my head many times the idea that a relationship could never sustain the intensity that our brief time together had.

Back to the film, I thought it was very well executed indeed. I thought Streep's accent might irritate me after a while, but this fear passed. I think that was only my concern until I could stop thinking 'it's Meryl Streep, it's Meryl Streep', rather than, it's Francesca (the dangerous cult of recognisable celebrity...) There wer probably a few too conveniently placed phonecalls for me to feel it was as naturalistic as I'd like - or as you'd find in a European interpretation of the film - but I found their relationship entirely believable and endearing. The weakest points in the film would be the scenes featuring the children - the 'present', if you like. In part, this was because I thought the roles were a bit poorly acted, lapsing into caricature, but also because I generally find this movement between two time frames in a story a little bit awkward. It was the same in watching 'Atonement' and reading 'Birdsong' - two otherwise very strong stories. In putting the story in two time frames, you are asking your audience to suspend disbelief a second time and you really lose the intensity of immersing yourself wholly in one story.

But hats off to Eastwood - in truth, I wouldn't classify myself as a big fan - I'd leave that to the guys who watched Dirty harry and wanted to be him - but after watching Changeling the other week it opened my eyes to how entirely involved he is in so many of his productions: he produced, directed, starred in and wrote some of the score for Madison. To direct and produce on a large feature is a phenomenal challenge - this man must have unbounded energy.