Girl on the Bridge

A lyrical, almost surreal musing on fate and the roles people play in each others' lives, Girl on the Bridge is the story of a peculiarly symbiotic relationship between an impulsive, suicidal beauty (Vanessa Paradis) and a fatigued, melancholy stranger who rescues her from leaping to her death. The stranger (Daniel Auteuil) is a knife thrower who recruits the wounded, manic girl as his target (what does she have to lose?), beginning an intimate but non-physical romance, eroticized through their increasingly dangerous performances. Something of a tarnished fairy tale awash in symbolism and sensuality, the film is absorbing, spiritual and luminous, and while director Patrice Leconte (Ridicule) takes a few artistic and narrative missteps, the performances and the investment in the characters are enough to overcome most of the problems. A strong, optional purchase. (R. Blackwelder)