Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (James Ivory, 1990)

[hearthesilence]

I'm not really a fan of Merchant-Ivory productions, but I'm intrigued by the praise given to this one by some critics who aren't either. Anyone see this? DVD's for it are extremely cheap - you can get a new one for less than $6 at Amazon - so I may just buy it rather than renting it.

[knives]

I'm probably not the one to look at since I like most Of MI's output, but this is certainly one of their most lively productions.

[Roger Ryan]

This is my favorite Merchant-Ivory production...although I do like most of their other films as well.

[hearthesilence]

To be fair, I don't think the ones I've seen are terrible (except possibly Jefferson in Paris, but I'd have to revisit that one since I saw it in high school). I like Hopkins in The Remains of the Day, Howards End is pretty good, etc. But at best, they seemed tasteful to a fault, at least to me.

FWIW, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge did get some recognition - an Oscar nomination for Woodward and I believe a NY Critics Award for her and the screenplay - but compared to the MI films that immediately preceded and followed it, it didn't get the same share of awards or notices from mainstream critics. (If you look up some archival news reviews via Google, a lot of them praised Woodward and to a lesser extent Newman, but they often criticized the film for being too staid or boring - often when compared to other MI films praised by the same reviewers.) Writing for The New Yorker, Terrence Rafferty gave it a damning review, calling it "Ambersons without the magnificence."

[knives]

You've got to see Maurice first then. Easily their best film filled with a great deal of emotion that due to Ivory's style never falls into saccharine. It will pretty much force you to give them a free pass for everything else.

[swo17]

Well I give them a free pass too but that's only because I don't feel comfortable critiquing films that I can't stay awake through.

[hearthesilence]

I'll see if I can find Maurice. In the meantime, I've changed my mind about buying Mr. & Mrs. Bridge, apparently the DVD transfer sucks. Letterbox (i.e. not anamorphic) and crammed on to a single-layer DVD even though the film clocks in at a shade over 2 hours.

[beamish13]

Tribute to Evan S. Connell, who just passed away earlier this month.

[Mr Sausage]

I haven't seen much of Merchant Ivory's later Remains of the Day/Howard's End type stuff, but I did see a whole bunch of their early Indian films, and it was impossible to remain fully conscious through those. Unbelievably tedious and ridiculous. The only exception was Savages, which was pleasantly surreal and odd, even if it was just another excavation of Edwardian manners in the end.

Would people still recommend this particular one to me?

[hearthesilence]

FWIW, here's a Chicago Reader review that also references another positive one from the Village Voice:

I'm not much of a James Ivory fan, but this 1990 adaptation of Evan S. Connell's novels Mrs. Bridge (1959) and Mr. Bridge (1969) deserves to be seen and cherished for at least a couple of reasons: first for Joanne Woodward's exquisitely multilayered and nuanced performance as India Bridge, a frustrated, well-to-do WASP Kansas City housewife and mother during the 30s and 40s; and second for screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's retention of much of the episodic, short-chapter form of the books. It's true that she and Ivory have toned down many of the darker aspects, but as [The Village Voice] critic Georgia Brown has suggested, Woodward's humanization of her character actually improves on the original. Connell's imagination and compassion regarding this character have their limits, and Woodward triumphantly exceeds them. There are other fine performances as well from Paul Newman (as uptight Mr. Bridge), Blythe Danner (as India's troubled best friend), Simon Callow, and Austin Pendleton. If the Bridges' three children are realized less acutely than their parents, the period portraiture nonetheless shows a great deal of taste and intelligence.

[domino harvey]

Does anyone remember that Joe Queenan piece where he subjected himself to every Merchant Ivory film as an endurance test? If memory serves he doesn't even make it to the end

[knives]

That seems a severe exaggeration of reaction on his part. I understand not liking most of the films due to the style, but they're never actively bad or anything.

[Mr Sausage]

...but they're never actively bad or anything.

You've plainly never seen The Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures.

[knives]

I have actually and enjoy it a little though I prefer most to it.

[Mr Sausage]

I have actually and enjoy it a little though I prefer most anything to it.

Fixed that for you.