Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, page 1

Bridget Jones
's Baby is a 2020 romantic comedy directed by Sharon Maguire[2].
Bridget Jones
film series , a continuation of the 2004 film “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.”

Plot

On her 43rd birthday, Bridget Jones is awakened by her mother, who reminds her that her time to have children is running out. She goes to the funeral of Daniel Cleaver, who is presumed dead after a plane crash. While there, she sees her ex, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and his new wife. They bump into each other somewhat awkwardly and then separate.

Bridget now works as a television producer and is close friends with the show's host, Miranda (Sarah Solemani), who offers to take her to her birthday party. Bridget refuses as she wants to spend time with a group of friends, but is heartbroken when they cancel due to commitments to their children.

Deciding to celebrate her single life, Bridget accepts Miranda's offer to take her away for the weekend. They go to a music festival, where Miranda invites her to sleep with the first man she meets. Bridget falls into the mud and is helped by a stranger. After attending an Ed Sheeran concert, a drunk Bridget crawls into a yurt that she thinks belongs to her and Miranda, but actually belongs to the stranger she met earlier. They have sex, and in the morning Bridget runs away. The stranger returns disappointed that she left.

Back home, Bridget goes to the christening of Jude's youngest child, as she is the godmother and Mark has been asked to be the godfather. Mark tells her that he and his wife are planning to divorce, and Bridget has sex with him. When Mark reveals that he is leaving tomorrow, Bridget reminds him that he has always put work before relationships and leaves in the morning before he wakes up, leaving a note saying that reuniting with him is too painful.

Bridget discovers that she is gaining weight. Sharon assumes that Bridget is pregnant, especially when she realizes that Bridget was using old, expired condoms during sex. After taking a pregnancy test at work, Bridget finds out that she is indeed pregnant and decides to keep the baby as it is her last chance.

After a visit to her OB/GYN, Dr. Rawlings, she realizes that she doesn't know who the baby's father is and doesn't even have a way to contact the stranger, Jack. However, Miranda spies him on TV, where they realize that Jack Quant is a billionaire and the inventor of a dating site that has a matching algorithm. Miranda conspires with Bridget to have Jack on the show to take hair samples so Bridget can test him for her baby's DNA to confirm or eliminate Jack as the father. They manage to get samples of Jack's hair for Bridget, but Jack recognizes Bridget and she decides to tell him that she is pregnant and that he is the father, without mentioning Mark. Taken aback at first, Jack decides to help Bridget.

Feeling that things are happening too quickly with Jack, Bridget decides to tell Mark. However, Mark is so excited by the news that he will soon become a father that Bridget does not tell him about Jack. Bridget also decides not to proceed with DNA testing while her baby is still in the womb as she fears the possibility that she may miscarry. She persuades Dr. Rawlings to be interviewed twice, once with Jack and once with Mark.

Bridget invites Jack to a work event and is startled when Mark turns up. The two men took an immediate liking to each other, finding each other's achievements impressive. They go to dinner, where Bridget finally tells them that she is not sure who the father is. Jack took the news well, telling Bridget that the baby was a priority. Mark is upset and leaves the restaurant.

At the prenatal class, Jack arrives early and Bridget is satisfied when Mark shows up too. Jack and Mark are mistaken for a gay couple with Bridget as their surrogate mother, much to Mark's discomfort and Jack's amusement. Mark is also jealous of Jack's easy communication with Bridget and his warmth in caring for her.

Bridget goes into labor and goes to the hospital, calling Jack with her. When Mark finally arrives, he is upset to see them laughing together and hugging. Mark and Jack argue and Bridget sends them out of the room. Outside, Jack implies that he and Bridget had sex without condoms, making Mark realize that he is unlikely to become a father. He leaves again and ignores Bridget's calls.

Bridget continues to prepare for the birth of her baby, now with only Jack by her side. They have a discussion where he asks her to move in with him and admits that life is lonely for him. Bridget asks him what will happen if Mark is the father and he tells her that he will need to reconsider his relationship if that is the case. He also admits that the reason Mark was absent is because Jack strongly implied that Mark was unlikely to be the father. An upset Bridget goes to talk to Mark, but sees his wife arriving at his house and decides to leave him.

In the ninth month, Bridget is fired for numerous missteps and unprofessional failures, notably inviting a guest on the show with the sole intention of obtaining a sample of his DNA, live-streaming bare butts during the launch of a news gathering initiative, and mixing up a guest with his chauffeur. Unemployed, exhausted and hungry, she goes shopping but her card is eaten by an ATM and she locks herself in the bank lobby, leaving her keys and food inside. She stands outside her apartment in the rain, feeling miserable. Mark comes and breaks into her place. He tells her that he and his wife are going through a divorce and she was only there to pick up the last of her things. Just as they are about to kiss, Bridget's water breaks. When his phone rings at work, he throws it out the window in a romantic gesture that leaves them without the means to arrange transportation to the hospital. They enlist the help of a local restaurant to take them to the hospital, but traffic jams due to protests force them to walk. Bridget is unable to walk due to contractions, and Mark carries her in his arms, but almost falls. Jack arrives just in time and the two of them take Bridget to the hospital.

During the birth, both Mark and Jack try to help Bridget. However, during the birth, Bridget accidentally hits Jack in the nose. Mark reassures her that she can get through the work and he will love her whether the baby is his or not, maintaining a painful bite on Bridget's wrist. While Jack and Mark wait outside, Jack apologizes to Mark for his behavior and Mark agrees. Bridget gives birth to a baby boy, and all of Bridget's friends and family come to see her in the delivery room. Meanwhile, Dr. Rawlings asked both men to come in for a DNA test. Mark and Jack wish each other good luck.

A year later, Bridget is getting ready to get married. She is greeted at the altar by Jack, holding her son, and then moves on to marry Mark. After the wedding, Mark and Jack, now friends, head to the reception together, with Bridget carrying Mark's son, William.

The newspaper lying on the bench reveals that Daniel Cleaver was found alive in the woods in the wreckage of the plane.

Bad example: What Bridget Jones taught us

Renee Zellweger returns to screens. After the release of the film “Bridget Jones's Baby” in 2020, the actress starred in a new series from Netflix. Trailer “What if?” didn't give us any clues about the plot of the series, but judging by the description, we will learn “what happens when decent people do obscene things.” And while everyone is trying to remember where else Renee Zellweger played, we decided to reconsider the main role in her career - the simpleton Bridget Jones and her frankly bad advice.

Dating two men at the same time

It seems that everything is obvious here: not a single rom-com (let alone in real life) has ever had such a story end well. But this did not stop Bridget Jones - neither in the first film, when she exchanged Mark Darcy for the handsome Hugh Grant, nor in the third, when she tried to find the father of her child.

Make decisions based on emotions

“I realized that if nothing changes, a bottle of wine will become my best friend. I will die fat and forgotten by everyone, and they will find me in three weeks, gnawed by dogs,” says Bridget in the first minutes of the film. Then she decides to start a diary, lose weight and quit smoking. What happens in the end? Throughout all three films, she tortures herself with training, eats at night, drowns her failures in alcohol and waits for everything to work out on its own. Not the best example to follow.

Leave your diary in an open place

Keeping a diary if you are over 12 years old is initially a dubious idea. But Bridget went even further - she literally left her lover Mark Darcy alone in the bedroom, saying: “Read something. I'll be right back". Of course, along with the stack of magazines was her diary, opened at the very place where Bridget calls him “a klutz and a deer” and writes that “it’s not at all surprising that his wife left him.”

Wear ugly underwear

Just as Mark was reading the diary, Bridget went out to exchange her “granny” panties for a small animal print thong. Of course, underwear is a personal matter for everyone, and huge “granny” panties are now at the height of fashion. But let's admit it: a beautiful lace set gives confidence, even if no one sees it, and good lingerie means, first of all, love for yourself and your body.

Trying to please your mom

If you think about it, her mother is to blame for many of Bridget’s tragedies (and it’s not just about genes). In the first film, she hints to Bridget that it’s time for her to lose weight, stop smoking and finally settle down. What does this lead to? To overeating (mostly granola and moldy cheese), alcoholism, self-hatred and promiscuous sexual relations.

The third film begins with Bridget's mother waking her up on her 43rd birthday to remind her that “the clock is ticking” and she is already tired of waiting for her grandchildren. Emotionally, Bridget sleeps with the first person she meets, and then spends the night with an old lover - all within a few days. As a result, lonely Bridget gives birth to a child, not knowing who his father is, risking being left without work and support. And even after all this, her mother remains unhappy. Truly a toxic character.

Ignore the good guys

The happy ending in the story of Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy only happened at the end of the third film. All this time, she was moving in and out of relationships with him, distracted by the frankly toxic Hugh Grant. In the first film, he cheats, lies and treats her like a thing. But Bridget, like many of us, doesn't learn from her mistakes.

In the second part, without thinking twice, she agrees to go with Grant on a business trip to Thailand, and old feelings are revived. But then Hugh drugs her, and Bridget ends up in a Thai prison with not entirely friendly criminals (Mark eventually freed her).

It took her more than 15 years before she finally stayed with Darcy and married him. Although it is possible that in a few years we will again see lonely 50-year-old Bridget in a new film.

Cast

• Renee Zellweger - Bridget Jones
• Colin Firth - Mark Darcy
• Patrick Dempsey - Jack Quant
  [3]
• Sally Phillips - Sharon
• James Callis - Tom
• Shirley Henderson - Jude
• Sarah Solemani - Miranda
• Neil Pearson - Richard Finch
• Emma Thompson - Dr. Rawlings
• Jim Broadbent - Mr Colin Jones
• Gemma Jones - Mrs Pamela Jones
• Celia Imrie - Una Alconbury
• Jessica Hynes - Magda
• Ed Sheeran - cameo
• Hugh Grant image - Daniel Cleaver image

What is the Bridget Jones phenomenon?

Kleo.ru discusses who she is – a popular movie heroine, a loser or a destroyer of stereotypes.

THE CULT OF THE LOSER – WOMEN’S RIGHT TO MISTAKES

20 years ago, English journalist Helen Fielding’s book “Bridget Jones’s Diary” was published. And 5 years later there was a film that made the author famous throughout the world. In it, 32-year-old Bridget Jones, tired of others’ hints about the “ticking clock” and her parents’ attempts to set her up with another bachelor, Mark Darcy, starts a diary in which she openly writes about her doubts, failures, love torments, excess weight and smoked cigarettes.

Many times Bridget fails in public, is disappointed in love and is enchanted again, and in the end we are treated to an unforgettable run by the heroine for the man of her dreams. With her sneakers on her bare feet, Bridget tramples not just in the snow, but also in the stereotypes of society. A real woman should: cook deliciously, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t swear, don’t make mistakes, always be on top, well-groomed and slim, like a model... And of course, meet your soul mate on time (preferably before 30), build a happy family and become mom. This is the female “Matrix”, from which many try to escape throughout their lives.

Bridget with her soup of blue laces, falling out of a taxi after meeting friends at a bar and starting an affair at work, and even with her boss, is, of course, not Neo in this “Matrix”. But she's the kind of rebel who reminds us that life isn't perfect and that's okay.

ELENA RYKHALSKAYA, PSYCHOTHERAPIST, CANDIDATE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES, AUTHOR OF THE BOOK “LOVE IN A WOMAN’S LIFE”:

“Bridget Jones is a unique female character who embodies the complexes of most women. Some are overweight and cannot cope with their addiction to food, some always find themselves in stupid situations, some look ridiculous, some have bad taste, some act like a fool or a victim... The phenomenon of “a woman’s strength in her weakness” works one hundred percent - interesting men fall in love with Bridget.

The power of this fairy tale is obvious and is everyone’s dream - you can be ugly, behave like a fool - the prince on a white horse is still yours. And moreover, not in spite of, but because you are like that, he is not interested in others.

Bridget Jones is an absolute alternative to those ideal and artificial, similar images of women that set the teeth on edge not only among women, but also among men. However, when watching comedies, you need to remember that every character in the movie is exaggerated to make it interesting for the viewer. Therefore, women in real life need to adhere to the golden mean between a stupid fool and an ideal woman. And even better is to be able to transform according to the situation. Men love those who are ridiculous or perfect, but stay with those who are diverse.”

BRIDGIT JONES – EMOTIONAL CAREER

The film has a small male audience. These are mainly those who watched the film with their girlfriend. Some men think Bridget is crazy, others - crazy in a good way. If at first she tries to live up to the idea of ​​a seductive woman or a good professional, then she goes her own way. Mark Darcy likes her the moment she stops “keeping her style.”

Bridget sincerely wants to become a professional, but instead she flirts with her boss in official correspondence, listens to her friend's sobs on her work phone, and fails at a public speaking engagement. And he quits after learning that his boss is having a parallel affair and is already engaged to someone else.

DENIS KUZNETSOV, CAREER DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST, BUSINESSMAN:

“Bridget demonstrates a powerful example of emotional career in the film. The main motive for changing jobs and areas of activity is her mood. I wanted to annoy my boss and change something in my life. In addition, the new position on TV seemed to her “more prestigious” and “more effective” for finding the man of her dreams.

Bridget’s typical mistake when changing jobs is not understanding what is truly important to her in her work, where, in what team and in what position her talents will be fully revealed. It’s easy to fall for the “prestige” bait, but then it’s difficult to get out and you regret wasted time.

Bridget's strength is that she is ready to take risks and try herself in a new place, in a new capacity. Thus, she gains invaluable experience and new pleasant and useful acquaintances.”

CAN A WEIRD GIRL CREATE A FAMILY?

In the second part of the film franchise, called “The Edge of Reason,” Bridget is already in a relationship with Mark Darcy, but has not yet received the coveted proposal. They decide to separate because of their contradictions in views, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be insignificant. She chases Mark again and receives a marriage proposal. The second film was received much cooler by fans and critics.

12 years ago in The Edge of Reason we left the heroine with the promise of marriage. In 2013, a book sequel was published by Helen Fielding, Mad About the Boy, in which Bridget, the 51-year-old widow of Mark Darcy, mother of two children, meets a young guy from Twitter. Not all fans of Bridget Jones' diaries accepted the death of the "good guy", a reliable and positive lawyer. And now we are presented with the missing link - the story of how the heroine becomes a mother for the first time. The third film, Bridget Jones's Baby, hits theaters on September 15th.

In the new part of the film, Bridget again challenges social norms. Firstly, she was unable to maintain her relationship with Mark Darcy and is alone again. Secondly, at 43 years old she becomes a mother, but is not sure who the father of the child is - her ex or her new chosen one?

A fresh story about Bridget again relieves the stress of high expectations among women. The heroine is unable to follow the generally accepted chain: meet the man of her dreams - marry him - give birth and raise children - grow old together.

The modern woman may not have a “happily ever after”, says author Helen Fielding. It's not always the same. Some people have several marriages, several dream men. For some, loneliness can last for 10 years. Someone gives birth to a child without a husband. Life is unpredictable and never gives guarantees. And together with the heroine of the film, you can only laugh at this.

It was decided to preserve the intrigue about who the father was until the last moment. The actors starred in three different versions of the ending, and Helen Fielding's book Bridget Jones's Baby will be released this time later than the film, only in mid-autumn.

THE NEW BRIDGET JONES

At the world premiere, the film was already watched by some critics. So far the film is being praised. They note that Bridget has matured and become more interesting, and that she has clearly improved her professionalism and her image.

ELENA MILOVIDOVA, PERSONAL STYLIST, SHOPPER:

“In the first film, the heroine is looking for herself, trying to understand what kind of man she needs. This is reflected in her style. Bridget by nature values ​​comfort and convenience, she is funny and active, and she hears from everywhere that to find a man you need to dress sexy. Hence the extremes: either gray jackets or a bunny suit.

She feels uncomfortable in skirts and does not know how to choose their appropriateness, style and length. For her character and demeanor, especially in work situations, it would be better to choose straight or skinny jeans and wear them with shoes with thick heels or ballet flats. This would give her confidence and stability, literally and figuratively.

And femininity can be added to the image with the help of blouses and tops that slightly reveal the neckline, which, given her body type, can become the main (and better yet the only, so as not to overdo it) accent.

The heroine is initially full of contradictions: this is most clearly manifested in the famous choice of underwear: shapewear or brindle, ideal for a mythical image or cool for pleasure for yourself.

It is characteristic that at the moment of the fateful choice, when Bridget runs after Mark Darcy, she is wearing tiger panties - she chooses passion, her real, living self and wins.

In the second film, she turns from a street Englishwoman into a classic Englishwoman: the gray coat now fits her figure well, comfortable trousers and long elegant dresses have appeared. Now Bridget is more confident in herself as a woman.

The third film reveals a matured heroine who knows her worth: noble and at the same time bright colors appear in her outfits: blue, green, white. And in Bridget’s hands you can see a bag from the famous British brand Mulberry.

Graceful low heels and jewelry appear for the first time and really suit the heroine. The style is gradually transforming from an eccentric mix into a real urban chic, elegance has been added even to images in a natural style.”

One of the main questions that worried fans and critics was whether actress Renee Zellweger would be able to feel the same way about her character after a 12-year break? And will it be possible to believe again that Bridget is on the screen?

Before the release of the new film, even more than the plot, changes in the appearance of the actress for the main role were discussed. Well, society always has some expectations and stereotypes. The magic of cinema brings them to the point of absurdity. You can strive to conform, you can freeze from self-doubt and doubt where it is safe. Or you can move forward a little bit, believing that tomorrow will be better.

Soundtrack

Along with the release of the third Bridget Jones film, Universal released the film's soundtrack. In Russian distribution, the film “Bridget Jones's Baby” is called “Bridget Jones 3”. The main musical theme of the film was performed by Ellie Goulding, in addition, the soundtrack included compositions by Years & Years, Ed Sheeran, Lily Allen, Annie Lennox, Dionne Warwick, Marvin Gaye, Jess Glynne, House Of Pain, Isley Brothers, Temptations and others.

Notes

1. Bridget Jones's Baby
2. Baz Bamigboye
   .
   Bridget Jones's Baby film set for final push... but who's the daddy?, Daily Mail
   (26 June 2015). Retrieved October 19, 2020.
3. ↑ 1 2 Jaafar, Ali
   .
   Patrick Dempsey Joining 'Bridget Jones's Baby' For Working Title, Deadline.com
   (September 9, 2015). Retrieved October 19, 2020.
4. Matt Bagwell
   .
   Ed Sheeran To Feature In New 'Bridget Jones' Film, HuffPost UK
   (5 August 2015). Retrieved October 19, 2020.
5. Pocklington, Rebecca
   .
   Ed Sheeran meets Bridget Jones! Singer 'stars in third film', mirror
   (August 5, 2015). Retrieved October 19, 2020.
6. Guide, British Comedy
   .
   Bridget Jones's Baby begins filming (English), British Comedy Guide
   (October 2, 2015). Retrieved October 19, 2020.
7. Max Evry
   .
   Bridget Jones's Baby Release Date and New Set Photos! (English), ComingSoon.net
   (October 13, 2015). Retrieved October 19, 2020.
8. Lucy Mapstone
   .
   PIC EXCLUSIVE: Renee Zelleeger & Colin Firth joined by Bridget's baby, daily mail
   (27 October 2015). Retrieved October 19, 2020.
9. Bridget Jones's Baby (English). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
10. Bridget Jones's Baby. Metacritic. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
11. Cinemascore. cinemascore.com. Retrieved October 19, 2020.