Bridget Jones is Back! Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

Yes, Bridget is back in the new Helen Fielding book Bridget Jones: Mad about The Boy! But unfortunately, Mark Darcy is not. After her fairy tale ending, (if you recall the heart achingly lovely ending of the last book with the Velveteen Rabbit analogy) and two children later, Bridget is a widow.

I would have guessed she would be divorced by this time, but Helen Fielding has made Mark Darcy a martyr. Apparently, he was killed by a landmine while negotiating the release of aid workers in the Sudan.

So this is how Helen Fielding decided to get Bridget back on the dating scene. Mark has to go so that Bridget can continue to be Bridget. You know, along the lines of Matthew Crawley having his car accident so that Lady Mary can continue to be her prickly self. The story line must go on!

Apparently Bridget is now 51 with two young children and her new boyfriend is just turning 30. She is also struggling with social media and dating in the 21st century. Daniel Cleaver apparently makes a brief appearance in this book, (for old time's sake) and Bridge is just as bumbling as usual only now she is agonizing over twitter and Botox.

The reviews have not exactly been stellar but I have a copy of Mad About the Boy in front of me anyway, which I purchased this morning and will probably have finished by tomorrow. As much as I would have preferred a little peek into the married life of Mr and Mrs Mark Darcy, I will take anything Helen Fielding decides to give me. And I hope fervently that it makes it's way onto the screen in an improved version even without Colin Firth as the ever perfect Mark Darcy. The second film did not do justice to the second book but we can hope can't we? Here are some quips from the book jacket of Mad About the Boy:

• What do you do when your girlfriend's sixtieth birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend's thirtieth?
• Is it normal to be too vain to put on your reading glasses when checking your boy toy for head lice?
• Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant?
• Is it normal to get fewer followers the more you tweet?
• If you put lid plumper on your hands, do you get plump hands?

And if you would like to read a transcript of Helen Fielding herself interviewing Bridget Jones for the Daily Mail, it is pretty hilarious! Here is the link:

She's back! Older, none the wiser and with some very odd dating advice for the newly single: Helen Fielding interviews Bridget Jones

Cheers!

P.S. I just finished the book. I really liked it. If you liked the second BJ book then you will probably like this one. A similar satisfying ending. By the way, I think Helen Fielding's writing is very autobiographical. She has a boy and a girl just like Bridget and although the father of her children is not dead, he now lives back in the USA (a writer for The Simpsons or some such) so I think the death of her father may have inspired some of the sentimental bits in the book. So this is probably a peek into the life of Helen Fielding. The neighbour Rebecca is likely inspired by Helena Bonham Carter who is thanked at the end of the book. I will bet she will snag the part in the next film!!!

Bridget Jones's Diary 2001

Bridget Jones's Diary Poster

Why oh why do I love this film so much? I know it is not a masterpiece of celluloid. And yet I can watch it over and over. I also love the book by the way, and unlike the films, the second book might be even better than the first. But this is the Bridget movie that I love. I mean it has Mr. Darcy and Edward Ferrars in it for starters.

Mr. Darcy, Mark Darcy...brilliant!

Yup, a casting coup to get Mr. Darcy himself, Colin Firth to play Mark Darcy, the modern personification of his iconic character. But why do we not get to see him with his shirt off? Or a wet shirt? OK, we did enjoy the male version of the cat-fight set to the tune of "It's Raining Men".

Mark Darcy: All right Cleaver, outside.

Daniel Cleaver: [half laughing] I'm sorry? Outside? Should I bring my dueling pistols or my sword?

The sight of two good looking English gents kicking and pushing each other like girls just makes me giddy. Especially when set to a catchy song! Man these people know what I like (Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis, Helen Fielding...yup!)

Bridget: Resolution #1: Uggg - will obviously lose 20 lbs. #2: Always put last night's panties in the laundry basket. Equally important: will find nice sensible boyfriend and stop forming romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, sexaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional "dimwits", or perverts. Will especially stop fantasizing about a particular person who embodies all these things. 

Admiral Darcy: I like a woman with an arse you can park a bike in and balance a pint of beer on. 

Rock on awesome father of Mark Darcy! You are the ideal father-in-law! 

Shazzer: Look, are you coming to "bloody" Paris or not?

Bridget: Um, not.
Shazzer: No "bloody" room, anyway.

Mark Darcy: I don't think you're an idiot at all. I mean, there are elements of the ridiculous about you. Your mother's pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And, um, you tend to let whatever's in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences... But the thing is, um, what I'm trying to say, very inarticulately, is that, um, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like you, very much. Just as you are. 

Bridget: You once said you liked me just as I am and I just wanted to say likewise. I mean you wear stupid things your mum buys you, tonight's another... classic. You're haughty, and you always say the wrong thing in every situation and I seriously believe that you should rethink the length of your sideburns. But, you're a nice man and I like you. If you wanted to pop by some time that might be nice... more than nice.

Mark Darcy: Right, crikey.

Bridget: Wait a minute... nice boys don't kiss like that.

Mark Darcy: Oh, yes, they "bloody well" do.

 *********************************************************************************

Yup, still one of my fave movies ever. A guilty pleasure. Now I think I may have to pull the book out again for some bedtime reading.  

My question is this: Will this film be redone in the next decade or so? Will each generation have to have it's own Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy just like we have to reinvent Lizzie and Mr. Darcy?

Aaaaand...will Bridget Jones 3 (avec des bébés) ever get off the ground? And will Bridget be skinny this time? I could use another Bridget Jones, but only if it's as good as the first one please.

N.B. Just Googled Bridget Jones 3 and came up with the info that Bridget Jones's  Baby is a go, with Peter Cattaneo (from The Full Monty) directing and filming to start in January with a 2013 release date. Colin Firth has already spilled the beans about the plot. **Spoiler Alert**:

According to Marie Clarie UK, Colin Firth opened up earlier in the fall.

‘I can tell you that Bridget and Mark can’t have children, I think that’s the way it goes on,’ the Oscar-winner told Dave Karger, reporting for Access Hollywood.
‘So then she makes the huge mistake of going back to Daniel Cleaver [Hugh Grant's character] for long enough to get pregnant.‘And I think he dumps her, and she’s left stranded, and guess who comes back to rescue her?’
While we still have no idea if the actor's version of the plot is correct, author Helen Fielding also confirmed the plans.
‘I will be working on both the book and the film but I don’t know if they are the same thing yet,' she said. 'It’s not been decided.’

Squeeeeeeee!!!! Can't wait! A book and a film!

Miss Potter starring Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson

Miss Potter with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor

Miss Potter is a movie which every time I watch it, I am surprised by how much I love it.  I mean, as I am pulling it off the shelf, I always think why didn't they get a Brit to play Beatrix Potter, and then after I watch it, I am quite happy with Renee's performance!  Zellweger and McGregor have great chemistry and the twinkle in his eye as he helps her to get her "Bunny Book" published is adorable. I always tear up at a "certain part" of the film-no spoilers here.

Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger at the printers in Miss Potter

Ewan McGregor is one actor I would love to see a lot more of, as he seems to be truly having fun with this role and really becomes Norman Warne. Emily Watson is wonderful as Norman's sister Millie...she and Zellweger's Beatrix Potter really seemed to give a lovely modern feminist feel to the film. The Edwardian period is one of my favourites anyway as it has such energy and excitement as the new century begins.

Millie and Beatrix in Miss Potter- "Men are only good for two things. Financial support and procreation!"

Barbara Flynn and Bill Paterson are perfect as Beatrix's London social climbing parents. I love Bill Paterson as a father figure especially in Wives and Daughters, but he is just as adorable in this film. Barbara Flynn is hilariously controlling in this film (when she kicks the chair of Miss Wiggin I always laugh out loud!) and she is also a fave of mine from both Wives and Daughters and Cranford.  And I have to admit that until I saw the film again last night, I didn't realize that Emma Thompson's mother, Phillida Law, played Norman and Millie's delightful mother Mrs. Warne.  For Pride and Prejudice lovers, David Bamber, alias Mr. Collins, plays Norman's elder brother Fruing Warne.

Filming Miss Potter at Derwent Water in the Lakes District

The Lakes district was used extensively in the outdoor scenes, which are crucial to the wonderful feel of this film. It is appropriate that they were able to use the real Lakes District as Beatrix Potter is partly responsible for the fact that they are so well preserved today. She donated over 4,000 acres of land to the National Trust on her death and her actual home Hill Top Farm, is now a Beatrix Potter shrine with thousands of visitors annually (including The Squire and I in 2009). Beatrix Potter is so popular in Japan, that the day we were there, they had a Japanese tour guide specifically for the many Japanese tourists who arrive there every day. Although Hill Top Farm has many visitors each year, it is kept quite pristine and untouched save for the ever present gift shop.

Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, Cumbria, UK

If you are going to the Lakes District and want a real Potter experience, the house used for Hill Top during filming Miss Potter is now a bed and breakfast with fabulously up to date rooms. Here is the link to Yew Tree Farm in Coniston in the Lakes District. I'd love to put my photos from the Lakes District on this post, but it will take me an extra 2 days to find them! I am such a techno peasant! If I can locate them, I'll add them soon. It will make you want to go if you haven't before. My fave spots were Keswick and Grasmere.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this one, do see it. If you haven't seen it in a while, it's worth seeing again, especially if you are in that certain mood for a lovely quiet, sweet film with some great eye candy (of a few different kinds!)

Peter Rabbit with that naughty look on his little bunny face

Norman Dalziel Warne and his nephew, ca. 1900

OK, I couldn't resist adding this when I responded to Mel Mel below. Isn't that an adorable face? No wonder she fell in love ---ooops! Spoiler!