Lovers on the Bridge

Theatrical Release Date: 1999 07 02 (USA)

UPC: 717951004697

Studio: Miramax

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Adult Language]

Summary: Paris has its share of homeless people, and some of them live in little communities near the oldest bridge in the city, the Pont-Neuf. In the story, street-person Alex (Denis Lavant) has passed out along a much-traveled road, and a taxi has slightly injured his leg, which was in the way of traffic. When he limps back to his usual resting spot under the bridge, he finds a surprisingly unspoiled young woman (Juliette Binoche) wearing an eye patch sleeping there and confronts her about it. They become acquainted, and he learns that she is Mich?le, a painter from a good suburban family who has taken to the streets in order to practice her art uninterruptedly until the time when she will inevitably lose her vision to a degenerative eye disorder. Alex earns his booze money through doing street theater: fire-eating and gymnastic routines. The two become buddies and lovers, share many adventures while practicing the arts of street survival, and even have some fun along the way. So close do they become that, when Alex is imprisoned for a violent act of jealousy, a newly cured Mich?le visits him in prison and promises to meet him on the bridge when he is released. Despite this film's setting among the poor, it cost a lot of money to make: one of the big costs was the need to build a replica of the Pont-Neuf. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – European Film Academy Best Cinematographer – European Film Academy Best Editor – European Film Academy

Features: ccOriginal French language track
English subtitles
Widescreen (1.85:1) - enhanced for 16x9 televisions

Lovers on the Bridge

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 01/13/2004

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD Dolby Digital

Runtime: 126 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Road Hazards [4:57]
2. The Shelter [4:57]
3. "Gotta Go Back to the Bridge" [4:42]
4. D?j? Vu [6:08]
5. Portrait Pass-Out [6:42]
6. "First Love" [5:17]
7. Cello Chase [7:47]
8. Bastille Day [8:30]
9. Boat Ride [5:42]
10. "No Love Here" [2:47]
11. Enemies Become Friends [1:56]
12. And So It Begins [6:16]
13. Money Schemes [5:46]
14. Museum [8:53]
15. Trouble in Paradise [4:04]
16. Going Dark [3:19]
17. "My Eyes!" [6:25]
18. Corrections [7:34]
19. Christmas [6:54]
20. Catharsis [8:17]
21. End Credits [4:57]

Elbert Ventura

Straddling a fine line between greatness and folly, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf might be director Leos Carax's most infamous work. Carax's crackpot epic romance seemed doomed to a cursed existence from the beginning. Starring Denis Lavant and Juliette Binoche as two bums who fall in love, the movie received ecstatic notices upon its 1991 Cannes Film Festival premiere, only to meet with an indifferent box office. Perhaps Promethean hubris sealed its fate; the movie famously rebuilt Paris' Pont-Neuf and the banks of the Seine to fulfill Carax's grandiose vision. Three years in the making and three times over budget, Les Amants is the most extravagant expression of Carax's pet theme of l'amour fou. Unhindered by intellectual concerns, Les Amants is a purely instinctive act of filmmaking. Transfixed by the sublime (and skirting dangerously close to the ridiculous), the movie betrays a belief in cinema as a purely visceral medium. The apotheosis of Carax's heedless approach is a jaw-dropping Bastille Day set piece: the two lovers dance, scream, and cavort against a backdrop of fireworks and a cacophony of rap, classical, and dance music. It's a defining moment in Carax's canon, and, some might argue, a high that the movie never fully recovers from. For all its flaws, this unabashedly whimsical movie sustains, if unevenly, its exuberant vision. Reckless, excessive, and seized of millennial delirium, Carax's valentine to Paris may be remembered as one of the epochal movies of 1990s world cinema. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Marie Trintignant  Actor 
Leos Carax  Director 
Leos Carax  Screenwriter 
Christian Fechner  Producer 
Albert Prevost  Executive Producer 
Hervé Truffaut  Executive Producer 
Juliette Binoche  Actor 
Denis Lavant  Actor 

Country: France