Features Editor Govhar Dadashova reflects on the ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’ film, considering the role grief plays as a natural part of our lives.
The fourth addition to a beloved series of films, ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’ is an emotional powerhouse from start to finish. The original films have become embedded not only in British culture, but across the globe, as emblems of London in the early 2000s and the contradictions that all women (not only the ones in their thirties) faced. Many of these double standards still feel familiar to us, even if they have now evolved and taken different forms.
Renée Zellweger’s legendary portrayal of Helen Fielding’s protagonist has remained enduringly potent for over two decades. For example, Jones is now described by TikTok as being the archetypal ‘English frazzled woman’ — a category which Kate Winslet at the start of ‘The Holiday’ also falls into. Think hair wrapped into a messy up-do or falling carelessly about the shoulders, mismatched layers of winter clothing and a bag whose contents are spilling everywhere.
They are the women who make it onto the train during rush hour at the last moment, carrying a huge cup of coffee (one they are likely to spill onto themselves) and blasting their favourite tunes through wired headphones. They would lose their AirPods, of course! They are the kind of people who scribble rebuttals to an argument (hours after it took place) in their well-loved diary, whilst sitting on the couch and enjoying a few glasses of red wine.
Such characters have an irresistibly relatable quality that endears them to us and makes them ideal heroines for a romantic comedy. They feel so real and down to earth that you cannot help but root for their happiness. They make us as movie-goers believe that anyone — no matter how nervous, embarrassed or self-conscious they might feel — is worthy and capable of finding romantic love.
In their stories, falling head over heels is not simply reserved for the cool-girl Andie Andersons of the world — even if ‘How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days’ remains a cinematic masterpiece — but for anyone and everyone, no matter how ‘frazzled’ they might feel.
During the first movie, Jones perceives herself to have failed in multiple aspects of her life, especially when it comes to love. In her mid-thirties, she is bombarded with questions about when she will settle down and find a ‘decent’ man. Her first foray into love proves unsuccessful; it does not take a rocket scientist to know that choosing your philandering boss, much less one played by Hugh Grant, will have you wishing that Taylor Swift wrote ‘All Too Well’ twenty years earlier.
All is not in vain, as she takes comfort in Chaka Khan, copious amounts of alcohol and endless hang-outs with her hilarious friends, who equally tease and cheer her on. Not to mention, she falls in love with Mark Darcy, played brilliantly by Colin Firth in a manner which purposefully evokes his part as Elizabeth Bennett’s love interest in the BBC adaptation of ‘Pride and Prejudice’. In addition, Jones eventually finds a job she excels in, all the while continuing to live in a stylish flat near Borough Market.
It is incredible how our perceptions of cultural norms have shifted since the first film came out; how society has started to question long-held notions around the role of a woman, her aspirations in life and, perhaps most importantly, her ability to fail and try again. Just remember, the original film came out only a few years after Monica Lewinsky was ridiculed in international media for her part in the scandal caused by her affair with President Bill Clinton.
Jones is fictional, Lewinsky is not. However, both reflect how women in the late 90s and early 2000s — and still to this day — have been forced to navigate life as though it is climbing through barbed wire. The unfortunate lesson being: no matter how skilled or strategic you are, the consequences for your mistakes are much steeper than for your male counterparts. In some ways, we have come so far, and yet in others, it still feels like we are slipping behind.
Nevertheless, the original films have a whole host of issues. From offensive language to inappropriate storylines, if she were written today, Jones might have been a very different character. That is to say, despite its many flaws, the original film was relatable, earnest and moving. It reflected the society of its time and has captured our cultural imagination for so long because it depicts women as imperfect human beings.
Rather than placing them on a precarious pedestal, stacked with double standards and outdated patriarchal notions, it allows them simply to be. A rarity in a world which is so quick to harass, abuse, and misjudge what a woman says or does.
This was an incredible feature of the original films. However, the latest iteration (‘Mad About The Boy’) takes all of these complex emotions and pushes them to the next level. Tackling even trickier subject matters like grief and having to raise two children on your own, it is a moving symphony to navigating the highs and lows, to finding the light even when it feels like the darkness is overwhelming. It embraces the idea that life is not the pursuit of a final destination, but rather the continuous journey of evolution and expansion.
As Zellweger says in the movie: “Bridget Jones, it’s time to live.”
I cannot express how deeply cathartic and moving the film was. Having lost both of my grandfathers in the space of four years, between the ages of 16 and 20, the film beautifully encapsulated the kaleidoscope of emotions that grief causes. No matter how much time passes, much like with Jones and her children, it can feel like their deaths happened just yesterday. It can seem so cruel that the world continues to go forward and move on when such important people in your life have passed away.
Grief can feel like a tidal wave; one that hits at the strangest of times. However, as the movie depicts, joy can be found even in the hardest and most uncomfortable days, weeks, months or years. That is what I love about Jones and what I truly adore about this film. It presents life as messy, imperfect and difficult. But it also shows us that without its cracks and scars, life would not be the same; that somehow we can see the world for all of its flaws, but continue to tend to a burning flame of optimism.
Ultimately, the film reminded me that there is beauty to be found in the journey of discovering who we are. The grief does not ever fully go away and I would not want it to either. There is something so magical in knowing that no matter how much time passes or how much space is travelled, the people we love are always right beside us. They are in the memories that shape us, they are in the stories we tell and they are our catalysts for moving forward.
The new Bridget Jones film is well-worth the watch — and if you’re still not convinced, Leo Woodall from ‘One Day’ and ‘White Lotus’ plays her love interest, Roxstar.
There is truly something for everyone. Bridget Jones, we missed you dearly.
