Britain was and is one of the more suitable settings for Hollywood films. It doesn’t have linguistic barriers, while, at the same time, it is different enough from America to provide something “exotic” and interesting to those accustomed to all the films being set in New York or Los Angeles. The trend was especially strong in 1990s, and even some British literary authors exploited it writing novels that would bring them wealth fame. One of those was Helen Fielding, whose 1996 best selling novel Bridget Jones’s Diary was five years later adapted for screen in the form of eponymous romantic comedy directed by Sharon Maguire.
The protagonist, played by Renée Zellweger, is Bridget Jones, 32-year old secretary in London book publishing company. Her family, friends and colleagues use every opportunity to remind her that biological clock is ticking and that she should try to find the proper man and start family. Bridget takes those advice seriously, but her problem is that she smokes, drinks too much and is slightly overweight. On New Year’s Eve she decides to do something about it and put her life in order. This is easier said than done, because she surrounded by temptations. One of them is Daniel Cleaver (played by Hugh Grant), her good-looking boss with whom she flirts and later begins relationship. In the meantime, she constantly bumps into Mark Darcy (played by Colin Firth), quiet but handsome barrister who happens to be complete opposite of Daniel.
Bridget Jones’s Diary is a textbook example of “woman’s film” or what was sometimes ironically called “chick flick”. The original novel was written by a woman, most of its readers were women, film’s protagonist is a woman, film itself was directed by woman and its marketing was unapologetically directed towards women as audience, with claims that any modern woman can find a little bit of Bridget Jones in herself. The film, however, is far from “politically correct” celebration of feminism and most of its attraction comes from being set in “cool Britannia” during the early years of Blair government. It also comes from fascination from everything British, which included its past, embodied in popular works of Jane Austen. One of Austen’s best known novels was Pride and Prejudice, adapted into popular BBC miniseries which actually served as inspiration for Fielding’s novel. Fielding, who also co-wrote screenplay, was joined by Andrew Davies, writer of miniseries (and Richard Curtis, author of immensely popular British romantic comedies in 1990s and 2000s), while Colin Firth, more or less, repeated the role of Darcy he had played in the miniseries.
Bridget Jones’s Diary, like the novel, became big hit, although, in its essence, it wasn’t that different from so many British romantic comedies made at the time. Again, the plot is set in upper middle class milieu, with couple of pseudo-intellectual references, few kind words about plight of Kurdish refugees and Salman Rushide’s cameo making the film look and sound more important than it actually is. At the end of the day, the plot sticks not only to Austen’s script, but also to formula and cliches of Hollywood romantic comedies. The difference is in more skill and more class provided by British setting, cast and Sharon Maguire’s skilful direction. Bridget Jones’s Diary is likeable and funny enough to keep audience’s attention until its predictable ending. But the most important asset is Zellweger, Texas-born actress who has put an extra effort to play the title character as convincingly as possible. She has not only put extra weight on herself, but also worked very hard to talk with convincing British accent, which is something many American actresses have serious problems with. Her efforts were later recognised by Oscar nomination. Hugh Grant was also good in one of the rare opportunities to play a villain. Although a little bit overrated, its huge success at the box office was quite justified. In 2004 sequel under title Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason was made, followed by 2016 film Bridget Jones’s Baby.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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