Yes, technically the movie was well filmed and had some lovely cinematography, but it was also obviously written to tug on the heartstrings of those viewers easily given to sentimental mush.
***Spoiler to follow***
My biggest beef is with the story, itself, and the message it gives. Here we have a middle-aged bored housewife who's going through a midlife crisis and longs for some excitement. So what else is new? I'm middle-aged and I'd like some excitement, too, please. Enter our rugged traveling photographer, Clint Eastwood, and, a few screws later, our housefrau has now found the love of her eternal life????? Of course she's horny for him: he's exciting, adventurous, a deep-thinker, poetic - but very selfish and crappy family material. Meanwhile, her devoted husband of umpteen years, who is not abusive in any way and has stood by her through thick and thin takes the back seat because he's...well, boring. As a married man of 10 years with 2 children, I guess this gives me free license to dump my wife and kids if I suddenly wake up one morning and find them tedious in comparison to some hot new chick that really turns me on. It also makes me feel really good to know that, right now, my wife is probably fantasizing about dumping me for some rugged, exciting, outdoorsy type.
This is basically another Jack and Rose Titanic situation, where the audience is deliberately kept from the reality of what would happen if these two shmucks really did get together. Namely, Clint would dump Meryl when he got tired of having sex with her or Meryl would dump Clint when she finally figured out what a twit he was. Well, it's nice to know that they will be stuck with each other for eternity - under a bridge of Madison County.
***Spoiler to follow***
My biggest beef is with the story, itself, and the message it gives. Here we have a middle-aged bored housewife who's going through a midlife crisis and longs for some excitement. So what else is new? I'm middle-aged and I'd like some excitement, too, please. Enter our rugged traveling photographer, Clint Eastwood, and, a few screws later, our housefrau has now found the love of her eternal life????? Of course she's horny for him: he's exciting, adventurous, a deep-thinker, poetic - but very selfish and crappy family material. Meanwhile, her devoted husband of umpteen years, who is not abusive in any way and has stood by her through thick and thin takes the back seat because he's...well, boring. As a married man of 10 years with 2 children, I guess this gives me free license to dump my wife and kids if I suddenly wake up one morning and find them tedious in comparison to some hot new chick that really turns me on. It also makes me feel really good to know that, right now, my wife is probably fantasizing about dumping me for some rugged, exciting, outdoorsy type.
This is basically another Jack and Rose Titanic situation, where the audience is deliberately kept from the reality of what would happen if these two shmucks really did get together. Namely, Clint would dump Meryl when he got tired of having sex with her or Meryl would dump Clint when she finally figured out what a twit he was. Well, it's nice to know that they will be stuck with each other for eternity - under a bridge of Madison County.