The Lovers on the Bridge
Les amants du Pont-Neuf
Synopsis
On an under-construction Pont Neuf, Paris’ oldest bridge, a hard-drinking street performer and a post-relationship, young painter with failing eyesight live as vagrants. As her vision deteriorates she becomes increasingly dependent on him, and they manage to fall in love amid their daily strife.
Our take
It doesn’t get any better than this! Léos Carax, France’s arthouse enfant terrible, courted controversy and budget overruns for this delirious, tragic romance of the down-and-out starring a glorious Juliet Binoche. Panned at the time, it’s emerged as one of the last great movies of the 20th century.
When Lovers hit French theaters back in 1991, the main focus was on how much its investors stood to lose. Now, nearly a quarter-century after its debut, what stands out are the film’s expressive power, elemental imagery, and bona fide poetry. It lives up to its influences while creating something unique and genuinely moving.
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
September 11, 2015
Transit
Like Philippe Garrel, Carax is a marvellous director of the ‘birth of love’, and just as haunted by the shadow of its death or disappearance.
Cristina Álvarez López
November 12, 2013
Decorating his plaything [the Pont-Neuf set] with everything from fireworks to snow, Carax mounts a moving love story that fully earns its homage to L’Atalante in the closing sequence.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
March 01, 1992
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