Review: ‘The Girl on the Bridge’

By Ericka McThenia

French film La Fille Sur Le Pont, translated The Girl on the Bridge, tells the tale of an unconventional job and an even more untraditional love story.

This award-winning 1999 movie (with English subtitles) stars Daniel Auteuil and Vanessa Paradis.

Adèle (Paradis) has had a long run of bad luck and falls victim to handsome, sexually aggressive men. Tired of her failures and inability to choose the “right guy,” she plans to drown her sorrows and herself in the Seine River.

Gabor (Auteuil), a knife thrower, finds Adèle on the bridge and tries to talk her into becoming his new assistant since she has nothing to lose (in case he misses). Adèle declines his offer and jumps in.
Gabor saves her and, in time, Adèle becomes his new assistant. They start doing shows in Paris and then throughout France. Eventually, they become the biggest knife-throwing act in Europe, and then go on to win big money by gambling at casinos on the Mediterranean bank.

While doing a show on a cruise ship, Adèle falls victim to a charming, married man. She and Gabor part ways and things do not go well for either of them when they are not together. Somehow they know what the other is thinking while apart, but can they find each other again?