Parents' Guide to

The Bridges of Madison County

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Book-based romantic drama about a married woman's affair.

Movie PG-13 1995 135 minutes
The Bridges of Madison County Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 17+

Based on 2 parent reviews

debbie60435
debbie60435 Parent of 2, 8 and 16-year-old
August 28, 2022
age 16+
Uneekie
Uneekie Adult
February 26, 2020
age 18+

Great Work

This book represents the best in human emotions. It contains betrayal, trust, integrity and above all you fall in love with the characters. They are not perfect, nor do they try to be. His other book Slow waltz in Cedar Bend is just as good

This title has:

Great role models
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood, who also directed) is a National Geographic photographer driving through 1960 Iowa farm country looking for famed covered bridges, the titular BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY that he's been assigned to shoot. He stops at a farmhouse to ask for directions of Francesca (Meryl Streep), the lonely Italian-American housewife whose husband and kids are away at the State Fair. The innocent encounter leads to a deep romance that lasts four days and although they painfully part ways, neither ever forgets the other. Trying to persuade Francesca to leave her husband of many years and their teenaged children, Robert agonizingly observes that everything he's ever done up to that point has been leading him to find Francesca. Francesca wants to go with him but can't hurt her husband. And she recognizes that even though her nearly-grown children barely even speak to her anymore, they still need her. She doesn't want to upend their lives or let them think she wasn't fully committed to them and their father so she does the noble thing and, like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, gives up love for something more important than herself. All of this is revealed to Francesca's now middle-aged children after her death as they grapple with Francesca's odd burial wishes (she wants her ashes to rest where it turns out Robert's were strewn). Much of the action takes place in flashbacks based on journal entries Francesca left for her children to read.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (2):
Kids say: Not yet rated

This well-made movie is far better than the simple-minded, tear-jerking, bestselling novel of 1992 it was based on. The overall message -- that it's best to sacrifice personal happiness for the happiness of loved ones -- is the flip-side of many famed tales about the doomed fate of heedless lovers who abandon everything for love. Sadly, some remnants of what made the book annoying stubbornly remain -- there's an underlying preachiness, as if the goal is to condescendingly instruct Francesca's children, and secondarily the rest of us, on what true love looks like.

Redeeming the material are Eastwood as both director and in the role of Robert, the dreamy, courtly wanderer, and Streep, as the uprooted Italian girl now a rural Iowa housewife. They give the feathery writing enough weight to suggest believability. Middle-aged love may not interest teenagers much, but mature teens may connect with the idea that children can never really know their parents. The flashbacks not only show us something about Francesca's true nature but also create a sense of the cycle of life that many of us go through, from abandoning childish dreams to surviving the death of parents. The Bridges of Madison County does succumb a bit to preachiness at the end as Francesca's disappointments, losses, and death move both of her children to do the best they can with the time they still have left. The implication is that viewers ought to do the same.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how this movie compares to stories about people who run off and follow their passions and thereby bring about their own downfalls. Does The Bridges of Madison County applaud Francesca for her sacrifice, or do you think it disapproves of her choice? Why?

  • Do you think Francesca did the right thing? Why? Do you think she and Robert would have been happy together had she gone off with him, or do you think her regrets and guilt would have ruined their relationship?

  • The movie seems to suggest that while great passion and deep love are rare, they might in some ways be destructive and selfish. Do you agree?

Movie Details

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