I walked into the cinema with the biggest hope in my heart that this movie wouldn’t let me down and it didn’t. It delivered, if not more than delivered on my expectations for it.
For me, the Bridget Jones movies are a comfort movie, it feels like being wrapped in a big warm hug, but cinematically. It’s the movie series I reach for on the bad days, the good days, the days where I just want to wallow in emotion for no apparent reason and Bridget makes you feel like you’re not alone, she’s one of us.
She’s the most relatable character I think I have ever seen in a film, that she even feels very real and not a fictional character. She has the power to make me forget I’m even watching a film, instead I feel like I’m spectating on someone’s very real life.
In the cinema whilst watching this I cried happy tears, sad tears and cried because I was laughing so much and it takes a lot for a film to manage to encapsulate that much emotion.
I’m torn in deciding what scene was my ultimate favourite one from this film, so I’m going to have to talk about my top 3, starting with ‘the magic man tree’ scene had me and everyone else around me in fits of laughter and also swooning at Leo Woodall of course, or otherwise known as Dexter Mayhew in One Day. This scene is for sure the most talked about one on social media, with TikTokkers taking to attempt to recreate, in hopes of finding their next romantic prospects this way!
Credit: IMDb
The scene where Bridget is talking to her Dad and he says to her “It’s not enough to survive, you have to live”, it serves as a reminder to the spectator that life is supposed to be lived and she does live it, and she doesn’t just put her life at a standstill in any of the films because she hasn’t found ‘the one’ yet she keeps growing as a person and in natural course she meets him. If I’ve learnt anything from watching these films, it is that life can be a bit like a movie sometimes, things will go wrong and redirect your path but it makes your life story more exciting that way and we can certainly see this in effect with Bridget Jones.
The ending scene was by far the most emotive one for me, the attention to detail in this film was truly moving with Bridget’s son Billy wearing the exact same Christmas jumper as his Father, Mr Darcy wore when he met Bridget at a Christmas party also in a previous film brought a wave of nostalgia to me. This scene shows you that it’s okay to live your life even after the people you loved so dearly aren’t there anymore, but actually their presence is all around you and this, I believe, is the deeper meaning behind this film. The bit in this scene when Bridget is talking to the friends that got her through every stage of life, the heartbreak, the happy times, the grief it made me realise that this film isn’t just about romantic love and the difficulties accompanied by it, it also celebrates platonic love and long lasting friendships and shows how beautiful they are too. It is truly a film to watch with your best friend.
This film really does make you walk away from watching it wanting to cherish every person in your life because you never quite know when their stories will be up and you’ll suddenly have to learn to live life without their presence in yours. But, always remembering “It’s not enough to survive, you have to live” and find the places and the people you feel like you’re doing that with and don’t stop until you do.
‘Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy’ is still showing in cinemas and you can watch the trailer here:
