The Girl On The Bridge (1999)

Of all the great injustices done by Johnny Depp in his lifetime none may ever match the treachery of plucking Vanessa Paradis out of films for five years after the completion of this quirky 1999 gem. Miss Paradis’s combination of vulnerability and pixie style charm is why we go to the movies and it’s seldom seen in popular American actresses anymore to the point that I just can’t see how this movie would work in our native tongue. Maybe it doesn’t work in French either if you speak French, but it works for me and I bet it will work for you too. You have to sort of buy that French men are such that they will throw out young ladies like Paradis as they would the trash and even older knife throwers are more interested in turning them into assistants than girlfriends. All the better because it gives that knife thrower 90 minutes of reflection time to think better of it by the denouement. Our knife thrower is Daniel Auteuil, an actor so French looking that that you can almost imagine his face on their national flag. He has that Gabriel Byrne demeanor that makes him perfect for roles that call for emotional indifference. I saw him first in the 1992s “Heart in Winter.” If you ever had the kind of girlfriend that was always asking you what you were thinking or feeling then Auteuil’s character in HEART IN WINTER would have just drove them nuts. The late career Cary Grant understood that it would be unseemly for him to chase young girls across the silver screen, but it was acceptable and even fun to watch the girls chase him. GIRL ON THE BRIDGE is that formula with a modern sensibility. If I have piqued your interest you can stream it on Netflix or Amazon Prime.