THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
BEST EASTWOOD QUOTES FROM
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
ROBERT: I was just picking you some flowers. Men still do that, don't they? I'm not out of date, am I, picking flowers for a woman as a sign of appreciation?
FRANCESCA: No, not at all, except those are poisonous. (Robert drops the flowers... Francesca laughs) I'm kidding, I'm sorry. I'm just kidding. I'm so sorry.
ROBERT: Are you sadistic by nature, or what?
FRANCESCA: What's the most exciting place that you've ever been in the whole world, hmm? Unless you're too tired to talk about it.
ROBERT: Hmmm... most exciting, hmm... If you're asking a man if he's tired of talking about himself, then you haven't been out much, have you? I'm sorry... I didn't mean that to make it sound like some dumb statement.
FRANCESCA: No, it was meant... maybe it's a little dull for you, sitting here telling all this to some housewife in the middle of nowhere.
ROBERT: This is your home. This isn't nowhere. And it's not dull.
ROBERT: To ancient evenings and distant music.
ROBERT: I'm a loner, but not a monk.
ROBERT: Oh, and don't fool yourself, Francesca. You're anything but a simple woman.
ROBERT: If you want me to stop, tell me now.
ROBERT: I don't know if I can do this, you know.
FRANCESCA: What?
ROBERT: Try to cram in a whole lifetime between now and Friday.
ROBERT: I'll only say this once. I've never said it before. This kind of certainty comes but just once in a lifetime.
(Int. day. Francesca's kitchen. Robert at the breakfast table, eating scrambled eggs. Francesca goes and gets toast from the toaster and serves it to Robert.)
FRANCESCA: Did you sleep well?
ROBERT: Mmm-hmm ... Thanks.
FRANCESCA: Good. More coffee?
ROBERT: Sure.
FRANCESCA: (after a restless pause) Robert, I hope you don't mind my asking, but I feel like I should.
ROBERT: What?
FRANCESCA: Well, these, ah, women friends of yours all over the world ... how does it work? Do you see some of them ... again, or ... forget about others? Or do you write to some of them, now and then? How do you manage it, hmm?
ROBERT: What do you mean?
FRANCESCA: I just need to know the routine, the procedure, so I don't upset your routine, eh ... Do you want some jam?
ROBERT: What are you talking about, routine? There's no routine. Is that what you think this is?
FRANCESCA: Well, what is this?
ROBERT: (After a pause) Well, is it up to me?. You're the one who's married, and you have no intention of leaving your husband ...
FRANCESCA: To do what? Go off with someone who needs everyone, but no one in particular? I mean, ah, what would be the point. Will you pass me the butter, please?
ROBERT: I was honest with you.
FRANCESCA: Yes! Absolutely. You have, you have this habit of not needing, and that's very hard to break, but ... in that case, why sleep, you don't need rest, why eat, you don't need food.
(She takes his breakfast away from him and puts the dishes in the sink.)
ROBERT: What are you doing?
FRANCESCA: Gee, I don't know, maybe I'm not cut out to be a world citizen who experiences everything and nothing at the same time.
ROBERT: How do you know what I experience?
FRANCESCA: I know you.
ROBERT: Oh?
FRANCESCA: And what can this possibly mean to someone who doesn't need meaning, who just goes with the mystery ... and pretends that he's not scared to death.
ROBERT: (angrily) Let's stop this right now.
FRANCESCA: You know, after you leave here I'm going to have to go on sitting here for the rest of my life, and wonder what happened to me ... if anything happened at all. And I'm going to have to wonder if you're going to be sitting in some housewife's kitchen in Romania or somewhere ... and telling her about your world of good friends, and you'll secretly include me in that group.
ROBERT: What do you want me to say?
FRANCESCA: I don't want you to say anything, I don't need you to say anything.
ROBERT: I want you to stop this right now.
FRANCESCA: Fine. More eggs, or shall we just fuck on the linoleum one last time?
ROBERT: I'm not gonna be ... I'm not gonna apologize for who I am. ...
FRANCESCA: No. Nobody's asking you to ...
ROBERT: ... and I'm not gonna be made to feel I've done something wrong ...
FRANCESCA: (furiously) No, you're not going to be made to feel anything, period ...(she slaps his chest) ... because you have carved out this little part for yourself in the world, where you get to be a voyeur and a hermit and a lover whenever you feel like it ... and the rest of us are supposed to feel incredibly grateful for this brief moment that you've touched us ... Go to hell! It isn't human not to be lonely, and it isn't human not to be afraid! You're a hypocrite and you're a phony!
ROBERT: (very quietly) I don't want to need you ...
FRANCESCA: Why?
ROBERT: Because I can't have you.
FRANCESCA: What difference does that make?
ROBERT: (He moves his lips, but no words come. He turns away from the camera, and walks over to the window.)
FRANCESCA: Oh! Don't you see ... I just, oh Robert, don't you see? I just have to know the truth, huh? ... I just have to know the truth, because if I don't, I'll go crazy. So just tell me, either way. Because I can't act like this is enough because it has to be. And I can't pretend not to feel what I feel because it's over tomorrow.
ROBERT: (All this time he has been facing away from her and the camera hasn't shown his face. Now the camera moves to the left to show a closeup of his left profile.) If I've done anything to make you think that what we have between us is nothing new for me ... is just some routine ... then I do apologize.
FRANCESCA: (the camera moves back to her) What makes it different, Robert?
ROBERT: It's just that I, oh, when I think of why I make pictures ... the only reason I can come up with ... it just seems that I've been making my way here ... it seems right now that all I've ever done in my life has been making my way here to you. And if ... I have to think about leaving here tomorrow ... without you ...
(She has tears on her face. He is facing away from the camera, towards her. They embrace.)
FRANCESCA: (in a whisper) Don't let go ... (Aloud) Oh my God, what are we going to do?
(They continue to embrace as she sobs quietly. Finally, they hear a noise from the driveway as a car pulls in below the kitchen window. It's Neighbor Madge, who has brought the grass widow some Brown Betty. Robert hastens upstairs.)
(After Madge has left, Francesca goes up to the bedroom, where she finds Robert stretched out on the bed, lying on his side. She lies down beside him. He takes her hand; their fingers intertwine.)
ROBERT: (in a whisper) Come with me ... Come away with me ...
FRANCESCA: (does not answer ... )
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