Mr. & Mrs. Bridge by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is one of New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movie Ever Made – thank God I have seen it the other day, I was beginning to wonder if the list is flawed, or, worse, I am losing the ability to be enthused…if you wish, you could visit the blog and/or YouTube channel where I have thousands of notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other pages, and reviews of books from The GOAT and other sites, here is the link https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is one of New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movie Ever Made – thank God I have seen it the other day, I was beginning to wonder if the list is flawed, or, worse, I am losing the ability to be enthused…if you wish, you could visit the blog and/or YouTube channel where I have thousands of notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other pages, and reviews of books from The GOAT and other sites, here is the link https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

10 out of 10

 

Fantastic motion picture!

 

Furthermore, it came on the screen at the right time, after The Wrath of Khan https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2026/01/star-trek-ii-wrath-of-khan-written-by.html and especially The Weekend by Jean Luc Godard, the latter was not really excruciating, but at times there were scenes that inflicted pain

They kill a pig with a blow on the head, then cut the throat of a bird, perhaps a goose, all on camera, no special effects here, then there is this lamb, or goat, without the skin, and Godard keeps it on camera for too long – it is my silly, pretentious opposition here – and then they pour blood, or tomato juice until nausea sets in

 

Hyperbole, but let us move on to the fantastic Mr. Bridge first: Paul Newman is divine in the leading role – I have read recently that he was Jewish, just like Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis these two changed their names – he is otherwise one of my absolute favorites, and what is more, not just a sublime thespian, but a stupendous human being as well https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-color-of-money-based-on-novel-by.html

The role is complex, for Walter Bridge could be seen as the anti-hero, albeit he does what he ahs to: his wife’s best friend commits suicide (spoiler alert after the fact, it is just that I feel it is presumptuous to think people really read this) and the patriarch is stupefied ‘the husband did all could be expected’ blaming the dead

 

When asked if he loves her, he tells his spouse that he ‘is not a poet, he is a lawyer’, does not feel he has to do more than work and provide, which he has been doing, they live in affluence, they have a black maid, cars, and property, but he is conservative to the point where he makes me think of…MAGA, although he is not that mad

Nonetheless, when they say Make America Great Again – and mean it, the Orange Estupido in charge has just imposed tariffs on the…allies who do not back his imperial annexation of the land of a friendly realm, namely, Greenland – they refer to this period in the past, when they segregated, their white troops were ‘apex predators’

 

Walter takes home flowers, disapproves of the psychiatrist who has a lover who is much younger, when India Bridge, Newman’s real life wife, Joanne Woodward, excellent in the role, speaks of taking some analysis, her husband insists that this fellow is on the same level with palm readers and quacks, he is virulent, for all that, these are complex characters, I see Walter Bridge as trying his best, he rescues their maid from jail, he is patient with his assistant, who is in love with him, granted, it is surely in large part due to the aura of Paul Newman, a fallacy, in that I am type casting him, attributing his character strengths to Mr. Bridge, at least some of them

 

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

 

 

 

 

 

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