Rating: 
Summary: A modern Fairytale
Review: After Leos Carax's 1986 film Mauvais Sang (come on Miramax release it!) Juliette Binoche begged her then lover and director to never film her as a madonna again, and so the seeds for Les Amants du Pont Neuf were sown. Mauvais Sang features a luminous and fetishised Juliette Binoche as a mask like presence, with no physicallity. This was carried thorough to the wonderful The Unbearable Lightness of Being, but Carax exploded the image in his film. The story is simple, two down and outs meet fall in love, yet despite the harsh realities of life, and love, on the streets they live out an exciting and romantic (in all the senses of the word) existance. This movie is relevant for its amazing visual and tour de force performances. Binoche is simply standout, she seems to live the role, something she later admitted deeply disturbed her. The film is fabulously directed from the grainy opening sequence to the amazing fireworks scene and the exilirating conclusion. The film is littered with cinematic allusions from truffauts Les Quatre cents Coups, to L'Atlante. In terms of context the film is amazing because it juxtaposes harsh realities, the opening sequence and fairytale like fantasy. We are led to question what is actually real, from Binoche apparerntly committing murder to the street littered with gigantic litter. In the end Les Amants du Pont Neuf is a film which needs multiple viewing and some explaining or knowledge of French New Wave cinema to be wholly comprehended, yet it is cwertainly accessible for the majority of casual cinema goers! The film, as I always predicted, is only now beginning to get the recognition it trully deserves. Binoche has avoided this type of movie since, although Michael Hanekes wonderful Code Unknown, though on a smaller and more subjued canvas, has many similarities. Roll on the US release of that one too. And Miramax, its about time you beagan releaseing this type of movie on DVD, youre beginning to lag behind the other companies such as Fox Lorber and Criterion!
Rating:
Summary: movie true to life
Review: binoche is perfect in this movie-if anyone can display the depths of depression/hurt of the human soul its binoche. what i need to know is who plays the cello music-or what is the cello music in the movie. i assume its a classical piece but i really need to know. the fusion of music art love and paris is a perfect combo for anyone who knows how to appreciate such things.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrid Start!
Review: How did anyone make it through the first 10 minutes
of this movie? It was awful. That is all I have to say! AND, I love Juliette Binoche's acting. Skip this and watch BLUE or Horseman on the Roof.
Rating:
Summary: Is it really true love?
Review: I am amused that no one yet wrote something less complimentary about this picture. It does begin interesting, proceeds Ok but then things start to creep. Does her lover really love her? To me, he is a dangerous psycho and he does not stop at hurting her by keeping her uninformed. Wouldn't we judge someone like that as a heartless and cruel criminal? Why all this sobbing that he really loved her? Do we indeed imagine this as a true love story? And then at the end, like it wasn't enough suffering and beating for her, he almost drowns her and then both become happy and serene and rejoice in their escape. This is hardly a role-model romance, a perfect case of male rage, obsessiveness and violence - what is it to admire? In the very least, it is an expression of a really barbaric, brutal and animalistic instinct of male ownership over a woman. Perfect case of abuse - I wonder how all who marvel at this film would feel if they've been knocked into the river Seine in the middle of winter as an expression of their sweetheart's love for them... Love - no, sorry, this is absurd. In addition, the "lover" does seem to be mentally retarded and in my opinion, is not an attractive personality in the very least. But even if he was attractive... It puzzles me that there are always people who would admire the most gruesome behavior by confusing it with love - didn't he know that she desired to get her sight back, more than anything in the world? Would not real lover do anything to satisfy her desire, to help her get it back, even if it meant breaking up with him? That what true love really is. And for her part - thanks for portraying again a woman who enjoys being abused. I find the story rather ...non-convincing, although the acting is good. Another example of French cinema being in a serious trouble when there is nothing more to say...Where are all good times of Eric Rohmer?
Rating:
Summary: Is it really true love?
Review: I am amused that no one yet wrote something less complimentary about this picture. It does begin interesting, proceeds Ok but then things start to creep. Does her lover really love her? To me, he is a dangerous psycho and he does not stop at hurting her by keeping her uninformed. Wouldn't we judge someone like that as a heartless and cruel criminal? Why all this sobbing that he really loved her? Do we indeed imagine this as a true love story? And then at the end, like it wasn't enough suffering and beating for her, he almost drowns her and then both become happy and serene and rejoice in their escape. This is hardly a role-model romance, a perfect case of male rage, obsessiveness and violence - what is it to admire? In the very least, it is an expression of a really barbaric, brutal and animalistic instinct of male ownership over a woman. Perfect case of abuse - I wonder how all who marvel at this film would feel if they've been knocked into the river Seine in the middle of winter as an expression of their sweetheart's love for them... Love - no, sorry, this is absurd. In addition, the "lover" does seem to be mentally retarded and in my opinion, is not an attractive personality in the very least. But even if he was attractive... It puzzles me that there are always people who would admire the most gruesome behavior by confusing it with love - didn't he know that she desired to get her sight back, more than anything in the world? Would not real lover do anything to satisfy her desire, to help her get it back, even if it meant breaking up with him? That what true love really is. And for her part - thanks for portraying again a woman who enjoys being abused. I find the story rather ...non-convincing, although the acting is good. Another example of French cinema being in a serious trouble when there is nothing more to say...Where are all good times of Eric Rohmer?
Rating: 
Summary: Unwatchable
Review: I own lots of French DVDs and watch them all the time so I am by no means trapped in a Hollywood sensibility. To be fair, my review is based only on the first quarter or so of this film, which was as much as I could stand. If you -- like me -- have a limited capacity to get down and dirty with psychotic street people living like animals, then you and I are thinking alike. Obviously many people have watched it and heartily approve. To me, it is unwatchable.
Rating: 
Summary: Great big glorious heap of film
Review: I think the first half of the movie is extraordinary -- absolutely compelling from the very beginning, with its portrayal of the street milieu, and leading through several spectacular set pieces, culminating in the evening of fireworks displays; the sequence in which Binoche and Carax begin their celebration by dancing on the bridge, shooting a pistol, is amazing both for its visuals and its music editing; the first half completely justifies any effort to see this film; I found the rest of the story quite taxing, however, as it seems to become increasingly implausible, with the story developing so arbitrarily, that one loses sense of where it might be going and when the film might finally end. I have to admit that everything in the movie appears to be intentional, and if parts seem appallingly sentimental, other parts show that the director clearly knows the difference.
Rating:
Summary: A film that puts a face on the homeless
Review: Lovers on the Bridge is an intensely disturbing but ultimately life affirming film about a young woman artist named Michele,who after being jilted by her Lover decides to take to the street and live as a vagabond.She eventually takes up residence,with her cat Louisiana,on a bridge in Paris over the Seine river that's closed for repairs.She meets a young homeless man named Alex who has been on the street,the bridge in particular,much longer than Michele.He's lonely and he falls for her instantly.She's terrified of intimacy after what happened with her former Lover.To complicate matters,she has a rare eye disease that is destroying her eyesight.Binoche is totally convincing in her role.She conveys intelligence and an ethereal quality,you wonder how she could have come into this situation.It's easily an Oscar caliber performance.You wonder if she actually did live on the street during production.Denis Lavant as Alex,an insecure,shy,but ever hopeful street performer is just as effective as Binoche.You can feel his pain and frustration just by watching the expressions on his face.In spite of the situation he's in,he still inspires hope.The Director takes great care with the subject matter.He handles the issue of homelessness with compassion,respect,and affection.He wisely remains objective and allows the viewer to simply watch Michele and Alex's relationship develop.He never attempts to get you to pity or feel sorry for them.My only complaint with the story is that we never learn enough about Alex's past.How he reached this point and why.Filled with lush cinematography(the streets of Paris,the Seine river,some classic art work),an honest portrayal of the homeless,terrific performances by a talented cast,and some mesmerizing visuals(a fireworks display,water skiing on the Seine,Alex as a human flamethrower),Lovers on the Bridge is a film well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: If you liked Phantom of the Opera, you will love Les Aimants
Review: Obsessive love, all consuming love, love that is blind...all that is possible, even magical, if the lovers live in their own island of reality, isolated by illness and self-rejection (Binoche), by being a social cripple (Daniel), and joined by need. The beautiful artist running away from her increasing blindness illuminates the tortured soul of the fire-breather street urchin. He discovers caring and gentleness as he takes care of her. Their mutual dependency blossoms into a miraculously beautiful passion which lasts only till a cure for her illness comes along. Fear of loss drives him to extremes. They reunite when he comes out and she is cured and in society again. Or do they reunite only in death as all tragic lovers in history have been doomed to? The movie reaches for universal depth, but loses it in falling prey to gauche excesses of visual scintillation...gorgeous fireworks over Pont Neuf, but irritatingly out of synch with the point of the movie. Binoche brings her beauty and sparkle to this role, but it is Daniel who truly pulls at you, building sympathy and throwing it away moments later, the way those who cannot help themselves always seem to do.
Rating:
Summary: Times 2 = 10 stars
Review: One of the most beautiful films ever made. Clear proof that Juliette Binoche is one of the (if not the) greatest actresses of the age. Lacking, perhaps, in subtext or moral complexity - absences which would ordinarily prevent me from branding a film a great work of art, the extraordinary beauty (which I confess brought me to tears during the fireworks sequence,) the brilliant acting, the homages (especially to L'Atlante,) the inexorable progression from despair to hope all lead me to the conclusion that this is one of the greatest films ever made. I was fortunate enough to see this first in a theatre (the Walter Reed at Lincoln Center) so the full impact of the beauty of the film came through better than would be possible on a home system. However, I bought the DVD from Amazon UK several years ago and it is well worth owning. Following Boy Meets Girl (very good) and Mauvais Sang (wonderful,) the followup to Lovers on the Bridge which was Pola X was staggeringly disappointing and undiciplined. Worth owning largely for Scott Walker's brilliant soundtrack I could only look at it aghast and wonder what happened. There is nothing even scheduled by Carax in the new "improved"(?) Amazonified imdb. We can only hope that he returns with something even approaching having the sense of wonder and intensity of this masterpiece. Not just worth owning, but utterly mandatory.
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