MovieChat Forums > The Bridges of Madison County (1995) Discussion > A different take on this movie

A different take on this movie

posted 12 years ago by lamont-hard
9 replies | jump to latest

Please don't take this the wrong way... Robert was really not that honorable, yes a good man but he was not perfect. After all he was willing to get her away from her family, causing them shame and loosing there mother. He had sex with a married woman when he knew her husband was a good man. This was only four days and how could he at that point even know it would have worked out, because if it did not she would have been left with shame and a lack of respect she may not have been able to erase. I am giving a different spin on this as to why the writers may have decided it should not have happened [she leaving her family] She was the type to have carried tremendous guilt for what she did to her husband in the long run and I feel that may have been even more powerful then her love for Robert. Remember this was four days. On another note she was with her husband for fourteen years after Robert so she had to have loved him very much and I believe Robert became something loved something lost.....fourteen years after a four day romp is a very long time.

One last point. I felt she should not have put her kids in a position to dishonor there dad, but ask that her ashes be spread for both, Robert and her husband, otherwise her remaining with her family and they still being together all the years was for them also, ALL should get her in the end. They should not have to go through life knowing she really longed to leave us but we held her back, why burden them with that.

[–] Astrid2266 11 years ago

I think she loved her husband also. If she didn't, I don't see how she could stay with him. It may not have been the passionate romantic kind but I think it was a deep love for him and for her children.

I don't think she was trying to dishonor their father with telling them about it and wanting them to spread her ashes with Robert. I think she was trying to express to them how important it is to not take each other for granted in their own relationships with their spouses and to try and make those relationships better so that, perhaps, they will not fall into the same set of circumstances that she did. Which, at the end, they both seemed to have gained an awareness about their own relationships and what to do with them.

Do ya love him Loretta?
Ah Ma I love im awful.
Oh God, you poor thing.

[–] IMDB_Vits 11 years ago

I think she loved her husband also. If she didn't, I don't see how she could stay with him.

Divorce wasn't as common back then as it is today. Specially in a small semi-conservative town like that.

[–] lamont-hard 11 years ago

You should watch near the end of the movie where she lays next to him on his deathbed I would hope you would feel differently than what you posted. Speaking of divorce, what about having an affair in those days, if she went that far getting a divorce was hardly a difficult choice. I don't think she would have stayed in the same town if she did, as the lover never stayed in one place for long, they would have traveled the country.

[–] IMDB_Vits 11 years ago

I think you meant to reply to Astrid.

[–] z_thomas 11 years ago

"I think she loved her husband also. If she didn't, I don't see how she could stay with him." Because people only stay in marriages if they love each other?

[–] lamont-hard 11 years ago

You Say . Which, at the end, they both seemed to have gained an awareness about their own relationships and what to do with them.

On this statement it's funny how he stayed the same course as she did by going back to his family and working it out, as the sister after a few more days went home to do the same thing.

[–] mysprouts-740-813856 11 years ago

I think she knew already that she would begin to seethe with resentment at Robert. She made the fight choice but it doesn't make it hurt less but she went to a grave an honorable mother.

Asking to be buried seperately is not disrespectful, what if she had remarried? She want her ashes spread and I think her children should do that for her. She didn't have to tell them why. It was private and yet, she trusted with her most intimate part.

[–] sarizonana 11 years ago

probably I'm wrong but i felt Roebrt didnt love her enough to make Francesca to take the risk of leaving her secure and safe life for someone like Robert.

its been like a year that isaw this movie but i didnt feel like Robert showed her something different to make her being tempted enough.
if Robert would ahve reacted like Almasy when Katherine finished their affair him in the english patient, things could have been different

i did like Francesca but i didnt like Robert, she did the right thing about staying with her family since Robert only offered her excitment and fun nothing more and she knew that at some point this was gonna end with Robert too.

its funny how similar is this to the english patient but the same time how different.

[–] redban (5263) 4 years ago

Your points are valid, and I think movie actually addressed them.

Yeah ... leaving with Robert, she would have brought shame on the kids and her husbands. She mentions that during the candlelit dinner, to defend her decision to stay. She stays because she cannot bring that shame on her husband and children.

The relationship was only four days, and there indeed is no guarantee that it would have worked out. Francesca again mentions this detail during the candlelit dinner scene. She knows her relationship with Robert will change once they leave that home, and the memory of home, her children, her husband will make the relationship with Robert seem more sleazy than loving. She again cites this fact as another reason for which she must stay.

You point about the kids having to live with the idea that “Ma wanted to leave; but we held her back” ... I don’t think that’s how they felt. On the contrary, they see their mother as a hero who sacrificed her own desires for them; it is an example of extreme maternal love. As Francesca herself says, “I gave my life to my family.”