Topic: Has anyone noticed?

[Lightsrays]

That the Brokeback story that AP wrote is very, very, very simmilar to the story of the movie called The Bridges of Madison County? With Meryl Streep and Clit Eastwood?

The movie was released in 1995.

The story was written in 1997.

Has anyone also noticed the same thing, or is it only me?

[Koka]

The Bridges of Madison County is also a book or should I say: a book that got turned into a movie, just like BBM.

I read the book and saw the movie....and LOVED both! and no, it's not only you!

quite a few critics compared BBM to BOMC actually....

[tpe]

Literature-wise, the two works are pretty different. 

BBM is so spare and austere. 

BOMC is rich in purple prose, 

This is in terms of style.  As for the theme of love, there are parallels. 

At the heart of both is 'forbidden' love.

[frances]

At the heart of both is 'forbidden' love.

..................and regrets :

The old dreams were good dreams; they didn't work out, but glad I had them.

[tpe]

At the heart of both is 'forbidden' love.

..................and regrets :

The old dreams were good dreams; they didn't work out, but glad I had them.

Love and regret.  Am I being a pessimist when I say that they go well together?

Love is most beautiful at that moment when it is ravished by regret.

[stephan]

Love and regret.  Am I being a pessimist when I say that they go well together?

Love is most beautiful at that moment when it is ravished by regret.

Cher Thomas, not for me    Rather, love is most beautiful when it is ravished by desire.

[tpe]

Love and regret.  Am I being a pessimist when I say that they go well together?

Love is most beautiful at that moment when it is ravished by regret.

Cher Thomas, not for me    Rather, love is most beautiful when it is ravished by desire.

When restraint is overwhelmed by ardour, I call it desire

When ardour surrenders to resignation,  I call it regret

Somewhere between desire and regret, there is contentment.

Anywhere in and around contentment, there is love. 

[mrl]

At the heart of both is 'forbidden' love.

..................and regrets :

The old dreams were good dreams; they didn't work out, but glad I had them.

Love and regret.  Am I being a pessimist when I say that they go well together?

Love is most beautiful at that moment when it is ravished by regret.

Well said tpe, like your style.......BOMC popped into my head as well.........must just be the regret...

[stephan]

When restraint is overwhelmed by ardour, I call it desire

When ardour surrenders to resignation,  I call it regret

Somewhere between desire and regret, there is contentment.

Anywhere in and around contentment, there is love. 

Okay, now I see. "Regret" had brought connotations of wishing ardour hadn't happened 

[Lightsrays]

The Bridges of Madison County is also a book or should I say: a book that got turned into a movie, just like BBM.

I read the book and saw the movie....and LOVED both! and no, it's not only you!

quite a few critics compared BBM to BOMC actually....

What I was saying was that the BBM story has many of the same ideas found in BOMC.

There is a part that Merryl Streep voices over saying something simmilar to "skin inside skin".

There are the ashes in a specific, shared space.

And there is the love unfulfilled by "obligations".

And the regret.

Francesca was Ennis.

I hadn't read any piece with the comparasions, but now I see that it's the producer's favourite love story movie.

''What was the last great, epic, sweeping romance?" he asks, and a few minutes later, he settles on an answer. ''The Bridges of Madison County," he announces, is ''actually one of the few films that lines up."

Some people have said that Annie Proulx has "recieved the spirit" while writing the story, but I've defended her creative nature for doing so.

Now I see where the inspiration came from.

It doesn't diminish her work at all, but explains why she did it the way she did it.

[frances]

And there is the love unfulfilled by "obligations".

And the regret.

Francesca was Ennis.

So true!

Francesca: Robert, please. You don't understand, no-one does. When a woman makes the choice to marry, to have children; in one way her life begins but in another way it stops. You build a life of details. You become a mother, a wife and you stop and stay steady so that your children can move. And when they leave they take your life of details with them. And then you're expected move again only you don't remember what moves you because no-one has asked in so long. Not even yourself. You never in your life think that love like this can happen to you.
Robert Kincaid: But now that you have it...
Francesca: I want to keep it forever. I want to love you the way I do now the rest of my life. Don't you understand... we'll lose it if we leave. I can't make an entire life disappear to start a new one. All I can do is try to hold onto to both. Help me. Help me not lose loving you.



Beautiful exchange, Tpe and Stephan.

[frances]

And there is the love unfulfilled by "obligations".

And the regret.

Francesca was Ennis.

Guess I'm Doing Fine - Beck

There’s a blue bird at my window
I can’t hear the songs he sings
All the jewels in heaven
They don’t look the same to me

I just wade the tides that turned
Till I learn to leave the past behind

It’s only lies that I’m living
It’s only tears that I’m crying
It’s only you that I’m losing
Guess I’m doing fine

All the battlements are empty
And the moon is laying low
Yellow roses in the graveyard
Got no time to watch them grow

Now I bade a friend farewell
I can do whatever pleases me

It’s only lies that I’m living
It’s only tears that I’m crying
It’s only you that I’m losing
Guess I’m doing fine

Press my face up to the window
To see how warm it is inside
See the things that I’ve been missing
Missing all this time

It’s only lies that I’m living
It’s only tears that I’m crying
It’s only you that I’m losing
Guess I’m doing fine

[ms.bluesky]

i dont think there the same i think bbm is more deeper like it effects u more

[Silk]

I had thought about that film only a short time ago when I had to make a decision whether to give in to a strong attraction or not.  I did not.

[Rosie]

I read the Bridges of Madison County after reading this thread a while ago. I thought there were similarities and BOMC was sad, but it didn't impact me in the way BBM did. I don't know, I just had trouble believing the depth of love after just four days. So although it WAS very sad, because I couldn't personally believe that they were in a deep love, to me more like a deep passion that could have had the ability to become love over the course of time, it just didn't have the same effect on me. I know that Ennis and Jack didn't exactly have a long time together, but it was more than four days! and their passion lasted for twenty years. The saddest part was when she celebrated her birthdays when she was older, reliving those four days.  Don't get me wrong, I did feel for the characters, and there were many similarities, missed opportunities and longing, but the biggest difference to me was that Francesca didn't already love Robert when she married her husband, if she had known Robert first she probably would have married him, or at least had the opportunity to. Ennis and Jack had much harder obstacles to their love, and it was probably more tragic that they didn't end up together because their twenty year relationship proved that they probably would have lasted the test of time had they lived together. Francesca and Robert I can't be so sure about because what lasted all those years was the powerful memory of four magical days.  But yes, there are many other similarities. Reading BOMC did give me the idea that Ennis may go to Jack after he was dead though so I am glad that I read it.