The Bridges Of Madison County: A True Testament For Love

“The human heart has a way of making itself large again even after it's been broken into a million pieces.”

― Robert James Waller

I have an assignment for all of you. You need to answer a question for me. You can google if you want, use a dictionary and thesaurus if you have to. You may take as many days as you as you need. All I want is an answer, an answer as perfect and factful as , “ The sun rises in the east” or “ The Earth revolves around Sun”. Ok then my question is this, “ What is Love ?” If you already have a grin on your face then you can take a tissue and wipe that off. The question may be simple and cliche but it’s not easy. I’ll tell you why.

For the past twenty years all of us have experienced love in one or the other way. We all define love on our own terms and in our own way. For a fourteen year old boy love maybe the moment where his long time crush accepts his valentine rose while for a forty year old woman love is when her husband helps her out with household chores without her nagging. Love is what makes an old father ask his thirty year old son whether or not he is driving safely on the road. And this alluring mystery of love deepens when we decide on going beyond these vagrant white clouds of human relationships. What was the love that made poets like Keats, Shelly and Tennyson the masters of romantic era. Is it as passionate as the love that made twenty three year old Bhagat Singh embrace the noose on his neck with exuberance. Is love something that should be defined over an entire lifetime or is it about those pleasantly intoxicating and aflame moments when one is scared of letting something go. People spend lifetimes living in the illusion of love and in the end figure out that what they believed in may actually not be true. Love is abstruse enough to literally define the word abstract. You don’t know how to define it but you know that you feel it.

The only reason I started with this question is because the classic which I will talk about is somewhat based on this very catechism of love. Bridges of Madison County, a 1995 American romantic drama starring the personified epitome of acting Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood directed by Eastwood himself is nothing short of a cult film. The movie’s success maybe be defined by the 182 million dollars net gross across the whole world against a humble budget of 22 million dollars or the critical reception with a 90% rotten tomatoes meter and critics like Corliss commenting, “Madison County is Eastwood's gift to women: to Francesca, to all the girls he's loved before—and to Streep, who alchemizes literary mawkishness into intelligent movie passion" or the fact that Streep was nominated for Best Actress in a leading role yet again. But for me and millions others the reason was not just the movie’s success and critical reception, it was the unconventional approach towards love. For a movie-buff like me Rom-Coms are just another way of venturing into a land of heartfelt and warm love stories that are usually far away from realities. However Bridges of Madison County is not a Rom-Com or a simple Romance Drama for that matter ! This movie is a testament, a testament to pure and undying love.

“Things change. They always do, it's one of the things of nature. Most people are afraid of change, but if you look at it as something you can always count on, then it can be a comfort.”

Robert Kincaid

As per my planning at this moment we will sail through the journey of this classic together. If you have not seen the film then don’t worry, there’s possibly nothing that I could spoil for you. The film is more about feelings rather than the storyline it follows. Well so here we go,

Siblings Michael and Carolyn arrive at their descaesed mother’s farmhouse to settle her estate. On going through her will they are startled to know that their mother wished to be cremated instead of getting buried next to her husband Richard who had already booked adjacent burial plots on Prairie Hills. She also wished that her ashes must be thrown off Roseman Bridge a covered bridge in Winterset, Iowa. Michael objects to this saying that his mother must be delirious at the time she said this.

This mystery deepens when Carolyn discovers pictures of her mother on the bridge. She also discovers letters from a man called Robert Kincaid. Her children find a locked hope chest containing three notebooks, a National Geographic magazine featuring Madison County's covered wooden bridges, old cameras, and other mementos. The magazine includes a photo of Kincaid.

As the letter opens the build up to this unprecedented mystery slowly fades away. As Carolyn sails through the letter with her brother by her side everything about Robert Kincaid becomes clear.

"-- going over and over in my mind

every detail, every moment of our

time together and I ask myself, "What

happened to me in Madison County?" I

struggle to put it together in a way

that allows me to continue knowing

we're on separate roads. But then I

look through the lens of my camera,

and you're there. I start to write an

article and I find myself writing it

to you. It's clear to me now we have

been moving towards each other,

towards those four days, all our

lives –”

Robert Kincaid

They find that Kincaid who had already died in 1982 had left all his belongings to their mom. And to their surprise his last request was that he should be cremated and his ashes must thrown off the Roseman Bridge, same as the request made by their mom. Carolyn takes out three journals that were mentioned in the letter and reads aloud a story that takes them back to summer of 1965.

Francesca, an Italian lady who was settled in Iowa with her husband and two children taking care of a farm that her husband’s family had held for more than hundred years. Francesca was a war bride, she fell in love with Richard when he had visited Italy for fighting for America. Francesca was intrigued by the thought of having a family in the Great Land of United States of America. Unfortunately she did not get what she expected.

However she was excited when she found out that her husband along with her children was visiting the Illinois State Fare for four days. She couldn’t wait for everyone to leave. She was going to experience some freedom after a long time. But she never knew that these four days would change her life forever.

Robert Kincaid, a photographer and journalist for National Geographic visits Iowa for reporting on the covered bridges in the area like the Roseman Bridge. Venturing on not so wide roads of Madison County Kincaid reaches the Johnson’s Farm.

He asks Francesca for the address, she instead decides to rides with him to show the bridge as she was unable to explain the arduous directions in words. They bond as they reach the bridge, talking about their marriages, their lives, the places they were born in. Franny particularly gets intrigued when she hears Kincaid say that he had visited her hometown Bari in Eastern Italy, he specifically quoted, “ It looked like pretty country, so I got off the train and stayed a few days.” Franny wondered how free should one really be to get off trains in unknown lands and stay at places you no connections with. The idea of this unexplored freedom seemed fascinating. This was the moment when Franny knew that the next few days may not be normal.

The small talks were enthralling enough for Francesca to invite Robert for a cup of Iced Tea. Then she asked him to stay for dinner and subsequently a glass of brandy. The sparks between these two were clearly discernible. Robert was free in every way that Franny wasn’t. And Franny was composed and organized, which for Robert was only a wild imagination. Robert was doing what he wanted to do, Franny had killed her dreams for her family. These two characters may not get through that per se star crossed barrier in terms of financial or status differnces, but the difference in their lives and thoughts created a contrast way beyond the imagination of conventional love folklores.

FRANCESCA

"Making pictures." I like that. You

really love what you do, don't you?

ROBERT

(nods, smiles shyly)

I'm kind of obsessed by it, actually.

FRANCESCA

Why, do you think?

ROBERT

I don't know if obsessions have

reasons. I think that's why they're

obsessions.

FRANCESCA

You sound like an artist.

The conversations spark off a four day long love affair that changes Francesca’s life forever. Every scene, every dialogue from here on is in itself a testament about what love truly is. Every scene is filled with more passion than the previous one. The fairy-tale beginning is followed by a fight full of doubt, agony and amorous pain where both of them try to figure out what they are doing. And finally they are able to say it out loud. This goes to such an extent where Francesca decides to go away with Robert leaving her children and husband behind. But again, the long and trusted bond with Richard forces her to stay. As Kincaid describes this moment he says-

“In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live.”

Robert leaves, Francesca goes back to her husband. But there comes a moment at the end which could have been magical. Franny was in her truck with Richard, exactly in front of them was Robert’s truck ready to go back to Washington. Robert signals Franny giving her a last chance to come back. The signal at the intersection goes green but Robert refuses to move expecting that Franny would come running and sit in his truck. Franny too placing her hand on the door handle was almost ready to unlock. What an ending it could have been, Franny opening the gate, running in rain and eloping away with Robert. But that’s the beauty of this classic, as I said it is not just any other Romantic Drama. It’s this realism that makes this film great. Franny cannot go back although she felt she should have, but she cannot respecting the bond that she shared with Richard.

But love won't obey our expectations.

Its mystery is pure and absolute.

What Robert and I had, could not

continue if we were together. What

Richard and I shared would vanish if

we were apart. But how I wanted to

share this. How would our lives have

changed if I had? Could anyone else

have seen the beauty of it?

Francesca

Her children realize what it truly means to be happy. They cremate her, and then throw her ashes from the Roseman Bridge. And there went Francesca hoping to meet Robert on the other side, beyond this abyss of relationships with no strings attached to control them. All I was able to make out of this film was that love cannot be described by any living being whatsoever. You can only feel it, at those moments which come only once in a lifetime. So don’t miss out, grab them and cherish them.

“The old dreams were good dreams; they didn't work out but I'm glad I had them.”