Girl on the Bridge

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.

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.

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.

TNT RoughCut J. Rentilly

Simply, one of the year's best films.

Slate David Edelstein

Gorgeously silly.

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.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

What's best about the movie is its playfulness.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman

If you're in the mood for fairy tales, you've come to the right place.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Painless -- not particularly funny and not even remotely moving.

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.