Two witty, thoughtful and entertaining films about mature women with problems with romance
The films, one English and the other French, are about two mature women looking for love and struggling to cope with men, work and other stresses. – Bridget Jones’s Baby (not about the baby) and Aurore/I Got Life.
Bridget Jones’s Baby is actually about Bridget Jones at the age of 40, still not married and still trying to find the ideal man after many false starts and often hilarious mishaps on the way.
The film begins with the funeral of ex-boyfriend/philanderer, Daniel – played by Hugh Grant in previous films. His plane had crashed and he had come down in the bush. Amongst the mourners are many young women and when Bridget addresses the packed church she says,very solemnly, “Daniel has touched many of us here today”.
Fans of the Bridget Jones films will enjoy and maybe identify with her life, her many slips of the tongue, her valiant struggles against her lack of self-confidence and the many embarrassing situations she gets herself into.Which lover is the father of the expected baby?
But the big question is, will Bridget make it in the end with one of her first loves, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth)?
The film is full of sympathetic humour and Renée Zellweger is as brilliant as ever as Bridget, as is the script by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson and direction by Sharon Maguire. A very enjoyable film.
(15) 2016 123 minutes. Widely available.
Renée Zellweger as Bridget
I Got Life
Aurore (right) with her friend
Aurore meets her daughter's boyfriend
The second film is a French film with the original title of Aurore. It appears with English subtitles as, I got life.
The heroine of this film is a 50-year-old woman, divorced, looking after her two teenage and maturing daughters and being plagued by hot flushes. She walks out on an obnoxious employer and then finds it difficult to get new work. Like Bridget she has plenty of advice from her friends, one of whom is a feisty feminist who puts real fear into men who make unwanted personal remarks in the street. It’s quite extraordinary to see one such man running away from this wild woman.
The film is very sympathetic, touching, and occasionally hilarious. It’s a great film and we will certainly watch it again
Currently it’s available on BBC iPlayer. Google play, YouTube, Apple TV, etc.
(15) 89 minutes, 2017. Stars Agnès Jaoui; and Thibault de Montalembert; directed by Blandine Lenoir.
David Roberts
www.davidrobertsblog.com 20 April 2021
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