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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Girl on the Bridge

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Romance
Written by: Serge Frydman
Directed by: Patrice Leconte
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 28, 2000
Running Time: 90 minutes, BW
Origin: France
Summary
RATING: R for some sexuality
Starring Vanessa Paradis, Daniel Auteuil, Frédéric Pfluger, Demetre Georgalas, Catherine Lascault, Isabelle Petit-Jacques, Mireille Mossé, and Didier Lemoine
A girl on a bridge who contemplates suicide is met by a professional knife thrower. He recruits her to become the new human target in his travelling circus act in France, where the girl encounters a new sensual and suspenseful lifestyle.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Intimate Strangers Man on the Train My Best Friend The Widow of Saint-Pierre
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Girl on the Bridge, with its doomed art-house romanticism and echoes of Fellini, may not be the deepest piece of filmmaking out there now, but it is easily the most intoxicating. Take the leap.
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Paradis sizzles in a star-making role that gleams like one of Gabor's blades. She's a spellbinder.
Variety Lisa Nesselson
The gleefully assured tale of a professional knife-thrower who finds a quirky new target... hits the bull's-eye.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Leconte (''Ridicule'') gives his heart to the luck of romance, to the dream state visual style of Fellini, and, most lyrically, to the passion of the dagger point swoon.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's a film of sneaky power, peculiar delights and, finally, the ability to dazzle.
Salon.com Charles Taylor
Shot in sumptuous black-and-white by Dreujou, Girl on the Bridge might just be the most beautiful-looking movie of the year.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut J. Rentilly
Simply, one of the year's best films.
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
New and amazing -- it takes you back to the days when French filmmaking and French filmmakers were the darlings and saviors of the cinematic cutting edge. It's a great film, simply told, and a pleasure to watch.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Paradis is a most striking subject, but the movie is a winner as well, starting with a story full of black-comic possibilities exploited fully by the great French director Patrice Leconte.
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Leaves you with a bland message -- titillation may get your wicky-wack going but love and partnership stay the course -- but the way it gets you there is divine.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Hand-held cameras give their surface showbiz relationship a sense of immediacy that, like love itself, has more than a hint of danger.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Although the story slips into clichés despite its offbeat subject, Leconte's cinematic style is fresh and vigorous, and Auteuil remains one of France's most engaging actors.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
Romance, intrigue and old-fashioned movie glamour make a dazzling return in Girl on the Bridge, Patrice Leconte's sumptuous love story with a razor-sharp edge.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
It's a gloriously baroque vision and Leconte believes in his sequin and sawdust fantasy with such unabashed enthusiasm that he makes it work even through its most absurd moments.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Leconte turns up the erotic heat in the most gorgeously photographed black-and-white film since Wim Wenders' sublime "Wings of Desire."
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
Paradis, an actress and pop singer, is sensational.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It's surprising how much of the old mood Leconte manages to recapture, how sumptuous he makes the black-and-white cinematography and timeless Parisian and Mediterranean settings look.
Boston Globe Jay Carr
I'd take a chance on it anyway, even if it stumbles and loses its way.
Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
(Paradis) delivers what might be the most affecting film performance ever given by a supermodel.
Time Richard Schickel
A tangy frappe of a movie--preposterously comic, deliriously romantic, outrageously stylish in black-and-white.
Read Full Review >Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman
If you're in the mood for fairy tales, you've come to the right place.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Locale is crucial here, and Monte Carlo, Athens and Istanbul are a wonderful trio of cities for glamorous romance, intrigue and danger--and they could not seem more richly atmospheric with Dreujou's lush camerawork.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
Has a silly, insouciant glamour often employed to sell hair conditioners and perfume.
Miami Herald Marta Barber
As the sexual tension builds -- and it becomes intense, culminating in a highly suggestive knife-throwing scene more erotic than if the actors had been having explicit physical contact -- Girl takes you on a thrilling ride.
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Leconte's visual instincts are so impressive that they outstrip his story, leaving us flushed and dazzled, but also, as after a long night of champagne and baccarat (to say nothing of other irresponsible pleasures), hungry, tired, and homesick.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This rather obvious parable about soul mates benefits from luminous B&W cinematography, Paradis and Auteuil's luminous performances and the picturesque carny atmosphere.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
The deliberately obvious equating of knife throwing with sex would be funnier if it weren't so serious, and the undercut eroticism is part of what makes the movie themeless, merely a conceptual exercise.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Painless -- not particularly funny and not even remotely moving.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
This elegant vision of sexual roles is certain to make a lasting impression and is likely to provoke explosive dialogues in Denny's and sidewalk cafés from here to Monaco.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Artemis E. gave it a 10:
Beautiful, exhilerating tale of love, life and the mysterious workings of the mind...
[Anonymous] gave it an 8:
Not high art, but it's a lot of fun, and whimsical in the way good French movies are.
