Bridges of Madison County CD- Page 2

[VanillaIceCream2]

Posted: 7/15/14 at 8:53pm

I just wanted to share my own rationale for Francesca's choices. I don't find her actions to be deplorable--although, granted, infidelity is morally wrong, I still think Francesca is justified. (My apologies as this is long-winded). Her marriage to Bud was a desperate one. She needed a way out of war-torn Italy and he provided one for her. In "Almost Real," Francesca admits her decision was a hasty one: "I could love him, I could want him / Only take me from Italia..." She assumed she would grow to love her husband, but even though Francesca builds a life for herself in Winterset, she's not truly at home with this man or in this place.

Bud is by no definition a bad husband-- he provides for Francesca and the family, seems generally affable enough, isn't abusive, etc. However, Francesca is missing the real emotional connection that is born between two similar humans. Simply put, Bud and Francesca are too fundamentally different for their marriage to work on a spiritual/emotional level. It could be--and no doubt is--fine and pleasant, but Francesca wants more. A divorce might logically follow this revelation, but the Johnsons have children.

It's clear from "Home Before You Know It" that Francesca deeply loves her children and wants them to grow up to be strong-minded and well-adjusted. She tells Carolyn that she has the freedom to make her own choices about her future and doesn't have to be resigned to a farm life if she doesn't wish it. The mother/daughter bond seems especially strong, e.g. when Carolyn refuses to get in the truck to go to the fair until her mother urges her to come downstairs. Francesca also talks to Robert about her concerns that Michael will grow up bitter in the diner after "Almost Real." In short, she loves her children and feels responsible for their upbringing. It is because of them that (I think) Francesca chooses to stay. She worries too much about what would happen to them if she left.

Given this love for her children, Francesca knows there is no satisfying way out of her marriage. It is not unpleasant, and perhaps not even loveless, but it lacks the passion and soul-touching similarity of emotion that Francesca dreams about (and eventually finds in Robert). Robert attracts Francesca with his artistry, his knowledge from his recent trip to Napoli, and his uncanny ability to understand the beauty and complexity people that others may have overlooked (In "Another Life," Marian sings that Robert asked her questions "that no one thought to ask before" and when Francesca asks him (not directly, but you understand) to "just, please, look at me" he complies during "The World Inside a Frame" with those beautiful, quiet "don't look at me"/"now… look at me" lines.) Robert seems to understand Francesca much more deeply than Bud does and she acts on her passion because she's nervous she won't feel the same way again. Given the almost certainty that Bud and Francesca would be divorced if not for their children, I personally think she should be allowed to indulge her passions/fantasies/what have you at a time when she'd suffer minimal backlash for her actions.

Had she chosen to leave with Robert instead of remain with her family, I would likely be calling Francesca selfish and shallow. Instead, I simply think she was resigned to an ordinary life but jumped at the chance to make it extraordinary for the time being. Yes, she almost left again after Bud and the kids returned home, but I think she realized the depth of her love for her children and even neighbor Marge and reconsidered.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 1:55pm

For those interested, here is the cast recording with commentary from Jason Robert Brown and the cast!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr3znovUK95UFLq_G7tSfdASqJ8ZGhnFl

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/26/14 at 3:18pm

Leave it to Jason Robert Brown to record commentary so he can go back and listen to himself listen to his music and gush about it.