Grace’s Musings: Mad About the Girl
Helen Fielding is a genius. In Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, she has moved her heroine on to a midlife space that many of us can identify with. And despite the chaos of Bridget’s life, she triumphs – which is just one of the reasons we love her.
My own love affair with Bridget Jones has been going on for almost 30 years, ever since Fielding began her column in The Independent newspaper about an ironically comic singleton navigating life in London. And I identified – perhaps like many of you. Bridget’s existence mirrored my own: my pleasure-seeking twenties (there was some drinking, some smoking, and a lot of chasing love), the “settling down”, the whirlwind of motherhood and the sadness of loss.
But now, Bridget, played so brilliantly by Renée Zellweger, is walking proudly into midlife – which is what I want for all of us. We still need to fight against the societal pressure for us to age quietly, invisibly, that we’ve already spent a lifetime navigating. Bridget is not going gently – and I love that about her. She’s unashamed about getting older, and it’s so refreshing to see. She still dresses in the same kooky fashion and looks like she’s wearing some incredible make-up for mature skin.
The film doesn’t mourn the loss of youth, it celebrates the coming of age. Growing older is a privilege. After all, as I so often say, what’s the alternative? Time strips away the insignificant, leaving us with what’s truly important. As Bridget’s father, Colin – beautifully played by Jim Broadbent – says, “It’s not enough to survive, you have to live.”
For Bridget, midlife isn’t an ending, it’s a new beginning. She’s been widowed – her husband, Mark Darcy (a perfect turn by Colin Firth), has been killed on a humanitarian mission in Sudan – but after spending a suitable period mourning in her penguin pyjamas, she returns to work and gets back in the dating pool.
She finds lust with Roxster, played by One Day’s Leo Woodall, and, ultimately, love with her son’s science teacher, Mr Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor). And though it might all happen a bit more neatly than it does in real life, there’s also a realistic display of stumbling, falling and, hearteningly, still getting back up. Bridget’s life is just as messy, painful and joyous as our own – and she has the kind of resilience I’d wish for all of us.
While the world is telling midlife women to slow down, to fade into the background, to accept that the best is behind us, Bridget, in her perfectly imperfect way, reminds us that’s a lie. And so we’re as invested in the idea of a happy ending for her as we would be for any one of our friends.
As Renée Zellweger told Vogue back in January, “I think maybe folks recognise themselves in [Bridget] and relate to her struggles and feelings of self-doubt. Bridget is authentically herself and doesn’t always get it right, but whatever her imperfections, she remains joyful and optimistic, carries on and triumphs in her own way.
“She seems to make her quirky individuality and shortcomings charming, lovable and acceptable – and, in turn, she makes us feel lovable and acceptable too. And she celebrates originality, which I think is pretty special.”
That’s why we should cherish the Bridget in all of us and, rather than just surviving, remember to live – particularly when it feels like society is telling us to sit down and shut up. Because, like Bridget, we’re not going quietly.
